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Conclusion: Islanders get their first win of the season, beating Avs 6-2

Conclusion: Islanders get their first win of the season, beating Avs 6-2

The New York Islanders’ first win of the season was a complete team effort, as they cruised to a 6-2 victory and played a strong defensive game against a quality Colorado Avalanche team at Ball Arena.

Brock Nelson (2G), Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee, Anthony Duclair and Mathew Barzal (EN) ensured a six-goal win, while Calum Ritchie and Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Avalanche. Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 of 34 shots in his season debut, while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 32 of 37 shots in the loss.

The Islanders trailed 1-0 a minute into the game after Ritchie placed a Josh Manson shot off the center wall and had a wide-open net to shoot. The Isles applied pressure and found some energy after scoring an early goal.

“They scored that quick goal, but that didn’t stop us from playing our game and making sure we stayed level-headed,” Casey Cizikas said.

Anders Lee shot the puck into the net from the left side of the goal area at 5:33, making it 1-0. Building on that offense, Kyle Palmieri intercepted a Manson pass, beat him in a race to the net, and stormed into the net alone. Georgiev attempted a poke check, but Palmieri maintained control of the puck and fired it into the wide-open net, giving the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 18:52 of the first period.

Nathan MacKinnon gave Alex Romanov a reverse hit that sent him crashing into the boards at the end of the period, leading to a scuffle and leading to Logan O’Connor and Scott Mayfield taking minors to the roughing. The Isles maintained their pace in the middle frame and extended their lead to 3-1 when Brock Nelson scored a five-hole win over Georgiev at 8:25 of the frame. Shortly afterwards, Nelson was back in action when he intercepted Cale Makar’s attempt to move the puck out of the zone, went alone to Georgiev and clearly beat him with 11:14 when he was shorthanded, making the final score 4-0 scored the second goal of the game. 1.

The Avalanche wouldn’t go down easily as Mittelstadt scored in the first minute of the third period to bring the score within two goals. Anthony Duclair regained the three-goal lead by receiving a push from Romanov and sliding the puck past Georgiev. Mathew Barzal sealed the deal with an empty-net goal at 18:48.

“We were resilient and managed to stay focused on our game,” said head coach Patrick Roy. “In the second we were outstanding [period]we didn’t give them anything. It’s a nice team win.”