The Avalanche tested their recent invincibility by putting a prospect in the net against a top-five scoring team in the NHL, as if just to show how good they’ve been.
The flex almost worked.
Colorado lost 7-5 to the Devils on Wednesday after digging and almost climbing out of a 5-1 hole in the second period. Alexandar Georgiev, who had started eight of the previous nine games, got the night off before Saturday’s critical divisional tilt at Dallas. In his absence, Justus Annunen’s third career start was a slog with 22 saves on 28 shots faced — though not all the goals were his fault, and he settled in for a clean third period.