New Jersey Devils v Colorado Avalanche Live

Given the fact that the Avalanche experienced a disappointing season at the bottom of the league in 2008-09, the franchise is very content to be back in the playoff mix in this year’s NHL campaign. Hoping to continue their upswing, Paul Stastny and the Colorado Avalanche will host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at 8 p.m. GMT.

Even though the Devils did not play particularly well early in the season, the team around Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur steadily improved and climbed all the way to the top of the Eastern Conference. After three months of play, New Jersey leads the Atlantic Division as they went on to post a terrific 31-10-1 record. Without any doubts, the key to success so far has been the Devils’ outstanding performance on the defensive end of the ice. In fact, coach Jacques Lemaire’s squad is the best defensive team in the league as they held their opponents to 90 goals in 42 games. Likewise, All-Star goaltender Martin Brodeur is having another great year, allowing just 2.1 goals per contest while posting .924 save percentage.

The Avalanche on the other hand relied to a large extent on their offensive efforts to stay in the playoff race. More specifically, the young team around veteran center Paul Stastny showed significant defensive shortcomings at times, yet they managed to win 25 out of 46 games and are currently holding on to the sixth place in the Western Conference. Offensively, Stastny led all scores, scoring 9 goals and 32 assists for a total of 41 points in 46 appearances. However, it looks like the Devils might still be a little bit too much to deal with on Saturday night. Even though the Avalanche have no trouble finding the net, things might be more difficult versus an outstanding defensive team like New Jersey. Likewise, the Devils have shown that they are able to perform on the road as they managed to win 15 out of 20 away from Prudential Center so far.

You can watch all games of the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.