DENVER (AP) — Brock Nelson scored its first two goals of the season 2:49 apart in the second period, and New York Islanders beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 Monday night to give coach Patrick Roy a victory in his first game in Denver.
Roy won two of his four Stanley Cup victories with Colorado and coached the team for three years before retiring a month before training camp in 2016.
Antoine Duclair, Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee And Matthew Barzal also scored for the Islanders, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots.
Calum Ritchie scored his first NHL goal and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for Colorado, which doubled its first three games Alexander Georgiev made 32 saves.
Takeaways
Islanders: After being shut out 3-0 in Dallas on Saturday night, they responded with an impressive game Monday night. They trailed 1-0 just 1:01 in, but scored the next four goals to take the lead. When Mittlestadt made it 4-2 early in the second, Duclair responded with a goal six minutes later.
Avalanche: Georgiev played better, but a few of his mistakes led directly to New York’s first two goals. Lee scored when he didn’t keep his skate against the right post and his failed poke check attempt gave Palmieri an open net.
Key moment
Colorado trailed 3-1 and was on a power play in the second period when defenseman Cale Makar‘s blind pass on his own blue line was intercepted by Nelson and he beat Georgiev for a shorthanded goal.
Key statistic
New York led 2-1 after the first period, the first time it has led after the first this season. Sorokin made 10 saves in the first 20 minutes.
Following
The Islanders continue their road trip to St. Louis on Thursday evening. The Avalanche host Boston on Wednesday night.
