COLORADO AVALANCHE (5-0-0) AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS (2-1-1)
6:00 PM MDT | UBS ARENA | WATCH: ALTITUDE TV | LISTEN: 950 AM
The Colorado Avalanche take on the New York Islanders Tuesday night. The game is the fourth home game of the season for the Islanders, who have only played one road game so far.
Latest Results:
October 21, 2023 COL: 6 CAR: 4
October 21, 2023 BUF: 3 NYI: 1
HOME STAND SUCCESS
Colorado finished its two-game home stand by defeating the Hurricanes 6-4 on Saturday night. The Avalanche are now 49-19-9-1 all-time at home against the Hurricanes in franchise history, outscoring Carolina 322-225. Colorado is 5-0-0 on the season, for the fifth time in franchise history and the third time since relocating. The Avs completed their two-game home stand by defeating the Hurricanes and Blackhawks by a combined score of 10-4.
AVALANCHE vs HURRICANES 10. 21 .2023 RECAP
Carolina kicked off the scoring in the first period with a goal from Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Ryan Johansen leveled the game at one in the first period with a power-play goal. Logan O’Connor scored a short-handed goal in the second period to give the Avs the lead. The Hurricanes tied the game and retook the lead with tallies from Brent Burns and Michael Bunting. The power-play goal from Burns concluded a franchise record 19 straight opponent powerplays killed off to begin a season. Fredrik Olofsson, Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen all tallied goals within the last eight minutes of the second period to regain the lead permanently. Jaccob Slavin added a goal in the third period, his third goal of the season, but it was too little, too late. The Avs were the last team in the NHL to give up a goal in the third period in the 2023-24 season.
With two assists, Cale Makar recorded his 36th career multi-assist game, breaking Sandis Ozolinsh’s franchise record for a for a defenseman.
Artturi Lehkonen notched his first career four-point game (1g/3a).
Logan O’Connor tied Joe Sakic’s franchise record with three straight games with a shorthanded goal set in October 1998. He became one-of-seven players to accomplish this feat and is only the third skater to do it in the last 30 years. Saturday’s shorthanded goal also made O’Connor the fourth player in NHL history to have three shorthanded goals in the first five games of the season (since 1933-34 when goals by situation were first tracked.
Alexandar Georgiev picked up his NHL-leading fifth victory of the season, tying the Avalanche franchise record for consecutive winning starts to begin a season.
The Avalanche went 3-for-5 on the power-play to boost their season power play percentage to 27.8%, currently ranking eighth in the NHL..
HISTORY
Colorado has a 44-40-4-3 all-time record against the Islanders, with a 15-27-1-1 mark on the road. In last season’s meetings, the Avalanche went 1-1-0 against the Islanders, with Colorado winning the lone home game 1-0. The Avs lost the only road game at UBS Arena 5-4. Colorado has won three of its past four road games against the Islanders. This will be the 92nd meeting between the two franchises. Tuesday’s contest is the first of two games scheduled between the two teams this season. They’ll play again in Denver on January 2 at Ball Arena.
STOPPED BY THE SABRES
The Islanders were defeated by the Sabres 3-1 on Saturday night at KeyBank Center. Noah Dobson registered the lone Islanders goal late in the third period, for his first of the season. Jeff Skinner, Mattias Samuelsson, and Dylan Cozens tallied the goals for the Sabres. Former Avalanche Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves out of 43 shots on goal. This was the second half of a back-to-back for the Islanders, in the first game on Friday night the Devils defeated the Isles 5-4 in overtime.
PROJECTED LINES
The team practiced Sunday at Family Sports Center before traveling to New York. Below are the line combinations and defensive pairings the Avalanche deployed.
Forwards
Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Nichushkin
Tatar – Johansen – Rantanen
Wood – Colton – Drouin
Cogliano – Olofsson – O'Connor
Defensemen
Toews – Makar
Girard – Byram
Johnson - Manson
Georgiev
Prosvetov
*SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FACTS TO KNOW
Mikko Rantanen (1g/1a) and Nathan MacKinnon (0g/2a) paced Colorado with two points apiece against the Islanders last season. Rantanen’s goal was the first of his career against the Islanders.
Alexandar Georgiev started in both games last season against the Islanders. He recorded a .942 SV% in those two outings and only allowed four total goals (65-for-69).
SCOUTING THE ENEMY
Brock Nelson leads all active Islanders skaters with 10 points (4g/6a) in 15 career games played against the Avalanche.
Goaltender Ilya Sorokin enters Tuesday with a career .955 SV% and a 1.94 GAA against the Avalanche. The save percentage is the third-best he’s posted against an NHL team
NUMBERS GAME
20
Nathan MacKinnon’s leads all active Avalanche skaters with 20 points (8g/12a) against the Islanders in 17 games.
9
Having spent his first five NHL seasons with the Rangers, Alexandar Georgiev has seen plenty of the Islanders and is 9-4-0 in his career against them, posting a .936 SV%, 1.96GAA, and three shutouts.
5
Since being acquired from the Islanders, Devon Toews has recorded five points in four games against his former club.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“It’s great, it can provide a lot of energy for our team. It’s a massive part of the game and hopefully we can keep making a difference for the team and help to win games.”
- Colorado Center Ryan Johansen on the power-play
