In return, Ilya Sorokin shined as the Islanders led the Avalanche to their first win of the season

DENVER – A night that featured the two goaltenders the Islanders had pinned their hopes on ended in triumph for both.

A win for Patrick Roy on his return to Colorado.

A win for Ilya Sorokin on his return to the goal area.

And a much-needed win for the Islanders, who avoided a third straight loss to open the season and are .500 (1-1-1) in the NHL after a 6-2 victory over the Avalanche on Monday night in St. Louis traveling in the ball arena.

Not bad for a night job.

Sorokin, despite all the worries about his physical health and the possible impact of the end of last season on his psyche, looked fine from the first shot of the night – a wrist strike from Nathan MacKinnon that he easily turned aside.

Sorokin played behind a defense that was still a bright spot in the first two games. He seemed unfazed and, as always, relentless. He stopped 32 shots and denied John Ludvig’s chance in the second period with a highlight save, spreading both legs out of bounds to stop the puck with his left pad.

More than anything else that has happened in the first nine periods of this season, this is easily the most important thing for the Islanders’ chances of competing.

However, this wasn’t a night where the Islanders were overly reliant on their goalie to bail them out.

Aside from the first five minutes or so, in which Colorado built a 6-1 shooting advantage, the Islanders had the upper hand over the home team.

All four teams seemed comfortable after the first two games were filled with fits and starts. The Islanders played solid 200-foot hockey, on the one hand circulating the puck with ease and on the other hand keeping Colorado out of the middle of the ice, which in turn made it easy for Sorokin – at least until a late attack where the Islanders held a three-goal lead.

Brock Nelson, who uncharacteristically failed to score on the night, got on the scoresheet twice in three minutes in the second period, first by ambushing Cale Makar and finishing a one-on-nil chance to score outnumbered, then Mikko Rantanen and Oliver Kylington marched through before a silky move past Alexandar Georgiev.

That made it 4-1 before the start of the third period, and unlike the first game against Utah, there was no collapse, although one of them threatened with Casey Mittelstadt’s goal 39 seconds into the third period, right after a Colorado -Powerplay had expired.

However, Anthony Duclair put an end to all worries by taking advantage of Alexander Romanov’s advance into the goal area and finishing around Georgiev to make it 5-2. Mat Barzal added an unanswered goal late.

The only truly dangerous moments in this game occurred in the first few minutes. Calum Ritchie got ahead of Oliver Wahlstrom after 1:01 minutes and scored a goal, which threatened to drive the Islanders into an irretrievable spiral.

But this is still an experienced team that faces a goalkeeper in Georgiev who came into the evening with a lot of questions of his own.

Anders Lee needed just 5:33 to equalize, shooting his own rebound into the goal at the right post. With less than 90 seconds left in the first period, Kyle Palmieri gave New York the lead after Georgiev’s stick check on the rush ended up sending the puck right back to Palmieri’s stick.

It’s just one win – and even if this season gets out of hand, it will be one of many.

But the first one is always a relief.

This time perhaps more than usual.