DENVER _ The New Jersey Devils were able to insert two skilled offensive players into their lineup.
But their 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at Pepsi Center to open a three-game road trip was less about skilled play and more about grinding out a victory.
The points, of course, count either way and in the tight Metropolitan Division race, the Devils (15-6-4) need all they can get.
The game marked the return of left wing Marcus Johansson, who had missed 13 games after suffering a concussion on Nov. 1. And it marked the Devils' debut of defenseman Sami Vatanen, acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday as fan favorite Adam Henrique was sent to Anaheim.
"It's a new challenge," said the Finnish-born Vatanen, a fourth-round pick of the Ducks in 2009. "You get traded and I feel like they wanted me here. That's a big thing."
"He is your prototypical Finnish guy in that he is just a badass out there," added defenseman Ben Lovejoy, also Vatanen's teammate with the Ducks. "He will claw your eyes out. He's competitive and he's fierce and he's an absolute gamer. He will add a ton to our team."
Vatanen logged a team-high 23:13.
The Devils and Avalanche (12-10-2) are speedy teams. But there was little space on the ice all night. Both teams, at times, also struggled with the puck in their own zones.
Cory Schneider stopped 22 shots while Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves for the Avalanche.
Brian Boyle, with his fourth goal since returning from being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, scored the winner on the power play at 6:11 of the third period with defenseman Mark Barberio off for holding Blake Coleman's stick.
The Devils were able to preserve the lead and hold the Avalanche without a shot on their fifth and final power play after Miles Wood ran over Varlamov and was called for goalie interference at 15:02. The Devils were 1 for 6 on the power play.
In contrast to Monday night's lethargic 3-2 loss to the visiting Florida Panthers, the end of a stretch of seven games in 12 days as the Devils were outshot 16-3 in the first period, the Devils were the early aggressors against the Avalanche, taking the game's first five shots and limiting the Avalanche to four first-period shots though the period. The Avalanche went without a shot until Samuel Girard's wrister at 12:54.
That was reversed in the second period as the Avalanche took seven of the period's first eight shots.
But the Devils took a 1-0 lead at 13:58 on a bit of a gift as Nikita Zadorov turned the puck over deep in the Avalanche's zone and Varlamov, behind his crease to play the puck, was out of position as rookie Jesper Bratt, with his eighth goal, deposited a shot into an essentially empty net from the left circle.
J.T. Compher's power-play goal on a rebound low in the slot off Alexander Kerfoot's initial shot from above the right circle tied the game at 1 at 17:11.
Devils coach John Hynes relied on Vatanen immediately, using him both on the penalty kill and power play and giving him a team-high 8:22 of ice time through the first period.
Meanwhile, Johansson was put in two dangerous spots, the first early in the period when he spun out and smacked his head against the side boards, though he skated away without an issue. Then, in a scrum behind the Avalanche's net, he was cross checked by Nail Yakupov at 15:21.
The Devils also survived a third-period scare as Brian Gibbons, who leads the team with 11 goals, had to crawl to the team's bench and was helped to the Devils' room at 2:13 after taking Erik Johnson's slap shot off his right knee.
But Gibbons returned to the ice within three minutes.
