NHL: New Jersey Devils Buried by Avalanche in Denver, 6-1

The New Jersey Devils closed out November in embarrassing fashion, dropping a 6-1 decision to the host Avalanche on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Ilya Kovalchuk scored the Devils' only goal, in the second period, after the Devils had already fallen behind by a 3-0 score in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Avalanche (11-13-1) got goals from six different players in routing New Jersey (12-10-1), which suffered its second straight loss while opening a four-game road trip. Ryan O'Reilly tallied a goal and two assists for Colorado, while Milan Hejduk had a goal and an assist, and Kyle Quincey had two assists.

“No excuses. There haven’t been many nights this year where I had to stand here and tell you that we didn’t show up and play,” said Devils coach Pete DeBoer at nj.com. “Tonight was one of them right from the drop of the puck. In the first period it looked like we were still in New Jersey.”

Semyon Varlamov had 18 saves for the Avs, who won for just the fifth time at home this season, while Martin Brodeur posted 19 stops for the Devils, who also lost to Colorado in October 2010 in Newark.

“There is a reason why you get killed like that. Everyone makes a lot of mental mistakes in the game and I was one of them,” said Brodeur after Wednesday's contest.

The two teams combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play, although Colorado got a shorthanded goal from Jay McClement in the third period. Devils forward Dainius Zubrus left the game briefly with less than five minutes left in regulation after taking a puck off the ankle, and subsequently underwent X-rays.

New Jersey, which finished 8-6-0 overall in November, continues its road trip on Friday night at Minnesota and will also play at Winnipeg and Toronto before returning home against Ottawa on December 8 at the Prudential Center.

“When you get on the road the key is to simplify your game," said DeBoer. "Keep things simple and hang around. Give yourself a chance to win. System play is a huge part of that and I think we’ve done a good job of that on the road. Probably better than at home.”

Not on Wednesday night, however.