It was like watching two different Avs teams play at certain points in the 8-4 win over the Devils. The wild victory included a first-career hat trick and a chaotic four-minute New Jersey scoring spree. The key to the Avalanche’s success — shoot more.

Victor Olofsson scored three goals and added two assists, making it a five-point night. He became the fourth player in Avalanche history, aged 30 or older, to achieve such a feat (joining Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk and Claude Lemieux).

“I’ve been putting a lot of pucks on the net, and unfortunately, not a lot in the net. But usually it does come when you keep shooting,” Olofsson said.

Olofsson’s trio of goals highlighted the team’s depth, alongside goals from Parker Kelly and Zakhar Bardakov, who scored his first NHL goal.

“Best game he’s (Bardakov) played, for sure. The whole line was good. They all looked fantastic. I loved Kelly’s game. I loved (Gavin) Brindley’s game. I loved Bardakov’s game …,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “You get all three guys playing well on the same night, and it can look like that. That’s a repeatable game from all three of those guys.”

Nathan MacKinnon scored two power-play goals, Martin Necas added another, and Olofsson contributed one more, totaling four goals on the man-advantage. The team came into the matchup with only four PPGs in the last 10 games. So what changed?

“Tonight, everyone wanted to shoot it. It wasn’t skate around, look for the perfect play. It was Marty’s (Necas) hammering it right away. Cale (Makar) is hammering it right away. Mack’s (MacKinnon) hammering it right away. And then we got one. And then they just kept doing it,” Bednar said. “Ollie (Olofsson), same thing. Everyone wanted to shoot the puck tonight. And we’ve got some really good shooters up there. And sure, teams are going to put pressure on you and try to take them away. But it doesn’t have to be the perfect shot all the time. I think we can learn a lot just from that today.”

The Avs nearly doubled their shots on goal from the 4-3 overtime loss against the Devils at Prudential Center on Sunday. While they may have discovered the secret to a win over the current No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, other opponents will not allow that much firepower. Balance is key, and the Avs continue to strive for it.