NEWARK, N.J. _ There are no gimmes in the NHL. But there was no doubt this was a must-have for the Devils.
Because beating the worst team in the league on home ice is a necessity if the Devils are to rightfully consider themselves part of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Especially coming off a sub-par performance following their bye week.
The Devils did what they had to, defeating the Avalanche, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Prudential Center, holding on to their one-goal lead the whole third period.
The Devils (24-22-10), coming off Sunday afternoon's 4-1 loss to the Sharks after a five-day, in-season vacation, are now 2-1-0 on this five-game homestand and 4-1-1 since the All-Star break.
"We didn't play the way we needed to play against San Jose as far as attention to detail," Devils coach John Hynes said. "We didn't play with the urgency level we needed to play with as a group."
The Devils were certainly better, especially in applying pressure and limiting second-chance opportunities for the Avalanche (15-37-2).
The Devils' 40 shots were their most since taking a season-high 43 in a 2-1 overtime win at Buffalo on Nov. 11
Cory Schneider, in his sixth straight start, made 28 saves for the Devils, who still play five of their next six at home. They entered the game five points out of the conference's last playoff spot.
It marked the Devils' first regulation win over the Avalanche since Feb. 26, 2009.
The Avalanche, whose 32 points are 13 behind the nearest team and have a league-worst goal differential of minus-75, have lost four straight and are just 4-22-1 since Dec. 14. No. 1 goalie Semyon Varlamov underwent season-ending hip surgery on Jan. 26.
So Jeremy Smith, 27, recalled from San Antonio (AHL) this past Wednesday, finally made his NHL debut after being a second-round pick of the Predators in 2007.
Still, the Devils had a hard time shaking the Avalanche, whose five-game road trip started with a 4-2 loss to the Rangers on Saturday and a 5-1 loss to the Islanders on Sunday.
Kyle Palmieri's textbook two-on-one rush with Taylor Hall, starting the sequence by bouncing the puck off the sideboards to himself to break out of the Devils' zone, then tapping in at the right post Hall's return pass on a give-and-go, gave the Devils a 3-1 lead at 16:25 of the second period.
But P.A. Parenteau turned the puck over in the Devils' zone and Mikhail Grigorenko converted a one-timer to close it to 3-2 at 18:34.
The Avalanche had tied the game at 1 on Mark Barberio's power-play goal at 6:43 of the second period. But captain Andy Greene responded with a power-play goal as the Devils went ahead 2-1 at 8:55, just three seconds after Andreas Martinsen was called for hooking Adam Henrique.
Travis Zajac won the faceoff in the left circle and drew it back to Greene, who connected on a slap shot from left point. The goal was initially waved off because of goalie interference on Miles Wood but Hynes challenged and a quick video review showed the puck crossed the line before Wood interfered with Smith.
The Devils started the game applying instant pressure on Smith and the Avalanche and rookie Pavel Zacha, shoveling in a loose puck at the crease, made it 1-0 at 2:04 on the third shot Smith faced in the NHL.
But Smith stopped the next 10 he saw in the first period, including Palmieri's power-play wraparound attempt while Travis Zajac's shot from low in the right circle off Taylor Hall's two-on-one feed sailed over the crossbar at 16:22.
Schneider, too, was sharp in stopping all 10 shots he faced in the first period, including turning aside John Mitchell's breakaway backhander at 5:06.
