HOW IT HAPPENED
Lee got the scoring started, cutting to the net and beat Blackwood five-hole on the backhand at 4:11 of the middle frame. The Avs were pressing in the second period and tied the score, as Nathan MacKinnon snuck the puck around Isaiah George to Lehkonen, who was sitting on the ice and found a way to receive the feed and roof the puck into the net at 13:00 of the second period.
Sorokin turned aside 11 of 12 shots in the middle frame to keep the game time when the Avs turned up the heat.
“In our zone in the second, Ilya stole the period completely,” Lee said. “It gave us an opportunity, a one-one game going into the third in our building, let’s go win it.”
After winning a battle along the boards behind the net, Holmstrom carried the puck to the slot, whizzed around and beat Blackwood stick-side to regain the lead for the Islanders, 2-1. To protect a one-goal advantage, Sorokin dove to cover up a rebound attempt from MacKinnon.
Ross Colton had a disallowed goal after Roy successfully challenged for goaltender interference. The Isles kept pushing, as Horvat was in the perfect position to bury a centering feed from Lee in front of the net to take a 3-1 lead.
Drury got one back for the Avs, as he drove to the net and wristed a shot past Sorokin at 13:55 of the third period.
Up 3-2, Romanov, who laid the body on Cale Makar early in the game to set a physical tone, contributed offensively and scored in his second consecutive game. After a faceoff win, Romanov blasted a shot from the point that deflected off Colorado’s Sam Girard and into the net at the 17:31 mark of the third.
Holmstrom iced the game by beating out Makar in a footrace toward the empty net, knocking in the insurance goal to take his third point of the period (2G, 1A).