New Jersey @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 18, 2018 ) Colorado 5, New Jersey 3

It is desperation time for the Colorado Avalanche in their quest to earn a Western Conference playoff spot and they hope to start a streak Sunday afternoon when the New Jersey Devils pay a visit. The Avalanche are six points out of the second wild-card spot with a game in hand after dropping five of their last seven contests, including a frustrating 5-3 loss at home to Anaheim on Friday.

“As a team you can’t continually learn the same lesson,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar told reporters. “It just seems like we’re learning the same lesson, over and over in our losses. I know our guys care but we didn’t play an inspired game (Friday), like we really needed it - like it was mandatory that we won. The urgency, for me, wasn’t there.” It will have to be there with 11 games left in the season - six against teams they are battling with in a crowded race for postseason positions - but the Avalanche must take care of the injury-ravaged Devils first. New Jersey suffered through a stretch of seven consecutive losses (0-6-1) before winning two in a row after rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat Vancouver 3-2 in a shootout Friday. “It’s big for the confidence in here,” Devils forward Stefan Noesen told reporters of the latest win. “We have some guys who this is their first year in the league and having a game like this where you come back and they are a big part of the reason, it helps them grow, helps them grow as a team and shows them you are never really out of the fight in this league.”

TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One, MSG Plus (New Jersey), Altitude (Colorado)

ABOUT THE DEVILS (27-36-9): Center Kevin Rooney scored his second goal in two games and Noesen tied the contest with 6:26 left in regulation before defenseman Damon Severson won it in the seventh round of the shootout Friday. Left wing Eric Tangradi had an assist in his third game since being recalled to play for his fifth team in the NHL, and first for the 30-year-old since 2015-16 when he played one contest with Detroit. Right wing Kyle Palmieri leads the team with 27 goals and 50 points, but has managed just one tally and two assists the past nine games.

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (30-29-12): Nathan MacKinnon scored once and set up another in Friday’s setback to push his team-leading totals to 36 goals and 89 points, but the 23-year-old center owns a minus-4 rating in the past two contests. Right wing Mikko Rantanen scored twice in the past three games to increase his career-high totals to 31 goals and 87 points while center Carl Soderberg (21 goals) is mired in a four-game point drought. Semyon Varlamov dropped three of his last four starts and Philipp Grubauer boasts a .960 save percentage in his last six appearances in net.

OVERTIME

1. New Jersey F Blake Coleman has three goals in the last four games and is second on the team with a career-high 21.

2. Colorado D Tyson Barrie is two away from the third 50-point season of his career after posting an assist Friday.

3. The Avalanche won the first meeting 5-3 on Oct. 18 with four points from Rantanen (goal, three assists).

PREDICTION: Avalanche 5, Devils 2