NY Islanders four-game road winning streak comes to an end in Colorado

Emil Heineman opened the scoring for the third straight game (and on his birthday), and Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves, but the New York Islanders saw their road-trip winning streak end in a 4–1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.

The Islanders, who had opened their seven-game trip with four straight wins, carried momentum into Denver and grabbed a 1–0 lead just 2:05 into the game. Tony DeAngelo’s shot from the right circle deflected off Heineman’s left skate and past Scott Wedgewood.

“Overall, I thought we had a solid game,” Bo Horvat said. “We would have liked to get a point out of it at least or get the win, but we have to take the positives from tonight and move on.”

Colorado broke through in the second. Ross Colton tied it at 4:32, and Victor Olofsson redirected Sam Malinski’s point shot at 5:51 to put the Avalanche ahead. The Islanders pushed back in the third period, generating a string of chances around the crease, including opportunities from Mathew Barzal and Horvat, but Wedgewood finished with 28 saves.

A late Islanders surge came up short before Colorado sealed the game with an empty net goal from Martin Necas in the final minute, and Brock Nelson scored against his former team 19 seconds later at 19:45. Colorado honored Islanders head coach Patrick Roy with a tribute video during the first media timeout. Roy, who backstopped the Avalanche to Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001 and later coached the team for three seasons.

“We could have done a better job putting bodies in front of the net to try to take his eyes away from the puck,” Roy said. “But come on, he made some great saves. We had grade-A chances.”

Despite the loss, the Isles are 4–1–0 on their road trip and play Tuesday in Dallas.