Avalanche Score Early And Often, Beat Devils 6-1

Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and two assists, Semyon Varlamov made 18 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 on Wednesday night.

Milan Hejduk had a goal and an assist, and T.J. Galiardi, Jay McClement, Stefan Elliott and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche. Kyle Quincey had two assists.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored New Jersey's only goal, and Martin Brodeur made 19 saves in the loss.

The Avalanche scored three times on their first five shots. Hejduk got the Avalanche started when he beat Brodeur with a slap shot just 7:37 in for his eighth goal of the season.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)