NEWARK — Goaltender Jeremy Smith waited a long time to make his NHL debut. So long, perhaps in odes to “Bull Durham,” he could be called “Crash” and deliver a soliloquy about, among other things, Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and the appropriateness of hockey’s trapezoid rule.
At age 27, with a dues-paying pro résumé that includes 43 games in the ECHL and 265 in the American Hockey League, Smith stepped into the Avalanche net Tuesday in the Prudential Center and, under siege, stopped 37-of-40 shots in Colorado’s 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
“I thought he was fantastic,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “He was our best player by a country mile.”
Mark Barberio and Mikhail Grigorenko scored for the Avalanche, while Pavel Zacha, Andy Greene and Kyle Palmieri had the New Jersey goals.
“I think before the game, you’re always nervous,” Smith said. “But once I got out there, I just played my game.”
Did he think this day would ever come?
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “But yeah, I don’t think you ever think it’s not coming. Every year, you’re thinking, ‘Is this the year?’ So I think this was a good game to build off of. I don’t think it was perfect in any way, but there are a lot of good things I can take out of it. I felt comfortable and that’s the main thing. You always think you can play in the league, but you never know until you do.”
Barberio, playing his sixth game with Colorado after being claimed on waivers from Montreal, got his first goal of the season off a Gabe Landeskog feed on a power play at 6:43 of the second period, pulling Colorado into a 1-1 tie.
Greene gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 8:55 of the second, after Miles Wood originally was ruled to have interfered with Smith. But a coach’s challenge and review led to a reversal of the call, and both Bednar and Smith agreed it was the right decision. Palmieri’s goal came off a 2-on-1, when he tapped in a return pass from Taylor Hall to put the Devils up 3-1.
Late in the period, a Matt Duchene steal and pass set up Grigorenko for the goal that closed the Avalanche to within 3-2. But Colorado couldn’t pull even.
Devils 3. Avalanche 2
First period — 1, New Jersey, Zacha 7 (Noesen, Josefson), 2:04.
Second period — 2, Colorado, Barberio 1 (Landeskog, Rantanen), 6:43 (pp). 3, New Jersey, Greene 4 (Zajac), 8:55 (pp). 4, New Jersey, Palmieri 15 (Hall), 16:25. 5, Colorado, Grigorenko 6 (Duchene), 18:34.
Third period — None.
Shots on goal — Colorado 10-12-8—30. New Jersey 13-18-9—40. Power-play opportunities — Colorado 1 of 3; New Jersey 1 of 3. Goalies — Colorado, Smith 0-1-0 (40 shots-37 saves). New Jersey, Schneider 18-16-8 (30-28).
Attendance — 12,462 (17,625). T — 2:35.
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