Islanders score four goals in third, rally to beat Cup champion Avalanche
Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the Colorado Avalanche surrenders a third period goal against Anthony Beauvillier #18 of the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Islanders trailed by three goals midway through the second period and coach Lane Lambert took a timeout to reinforce that a comeback was possible.
“It was, ‘We’re not going to do this in one swoop, we’re going to do it a little bit at a time,’ ” Cal Clutterbuck said of the coach’s message. “We just need the first one and then we’re going to go from there. And that’s what we did.”
To a T. Or, more precisely, to a W.
The Islanders extended their winning streak to three — all against upper-echelon opponents — by scoring four goals in the third period and rallying for a 5-4 victory over the reigning Stanley Cup champion Avalanche on Saturday night at UBS Arena.
“Just get back to our game,” said defenseman Noah Dobson, who brought the Islanders within 3-1 at 9:53 of the second period with a blast from the right. “We didn’t mind the way we were playing. We just had to keep going. It was a big win, a big comeback against a really good team. So it’s a good way to finish the week.”
Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves for the Islanders (5-4-0), including a late pad save on Andrew Cogliano that led to Brock Nelson’s empty-net goal at 18:39 of the third period. It became the winner when Alex Newhook scored with 29.9 seconds left and the Avalanche skating six-on-five.
The Islanders beat the Rangers, Hurricanes and Avalanche in a span of four days.
“There’s a reason why they won the Cup,” said Varlamov, a former Avalanche player. “To me, they were the best team in the league. It’s always hard to play against these guys. It was real fun to beat them, I’m not going to lie. Against a former team, it’s always nice to win.”
The Islanders tied it at 3 at 10:39 of the third period when defenseman Scott Mayfield converted Mathew Barzal’s pinpoint feed. Anthony Beauvillier, keeping the puck on a two-on-one rush with Anders Lee, gave the Islanders their first lead just 17 seconds later.
Until then, goalie Alexandar Georgiev (39 saves) had continued his strong play against the Islanders in his first start against them with his new team. He was 8-3-0 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage against them while with the Rangers.
The Islanders came within 3-2 at 3:35 of the third period when Zach Parise finally poked it in on his fourth whack during a scramble at the crease.
The Avalanche (4-4-1) were without leading scorer Valeri Nichushkin (seven goals, five assists), who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Gabriel Landeskog is out three months after knee surgery.
Both teams also played Friday night, with the Islanders beating the Hurricanes, 6-2, in North Carolina and the Avalanche losing to the host Devils, 1-0.
“We’re just continuing to build,” Lambert said. “It’s a good character-builder for us.”
The Avalanche scored three times in the opening 8:33 of the second period, with two coming from Evan Rodrigues.
First, Rodrigues took a feed from Mikko Rantanen to the slot for a wicked power-play one-timer 46 seconds into the second period. It marked the first man-advantage goal the Islanders have allowed after starting the season with 28 straight successful kills. The Avalanche have the NHL’s top-rated power play at 11-for-28 (39.3%).
Rantanen made it 2-0 at 7:28 as he was sprung for a breakaway out of the penalty box. Georgiev started the sequence by using his right pad to deny Josh Bailey at the crease.
Rodrigues made it 3-0 just 65 seconds after Rantanen’s goal as he tipped Nathan MacKinnon’s shot, prompting Lambert to use his timeout.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
