by Mikko Rantanen scored the tiebreaker in the third period and had three assists as the Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Islanders 7-4 on Tuesday night for their 15th straight NHL victory.
Ryan Johansen scored twice, Cale Makar had a goal and an assist and Bowen Byram, Nathan McKinnon and Ross Colton also scored for Colorado, which won its sixth straight to open the season. Valeri Nichushkin had two assists and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 shots to also improve to 6-0-0 this season.
The Avalanche's streak, which spanned the final 11 road games of last season, surpassed the previous mark of 14 held by Buffalo spanning the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. They also matched the 2013-14 team for the best start (6-0-0) since moving to Colorado before the 1995-96 season — one win behind the 1985-86 Quebec Nordiques for the most in franchise history.
Cal Clatterbuck had a goal and an assist, Kyle Palmieri and Simon Holmstron also scored, and Noah Dobson and Jean-Gabriel Pagau each had two assists as the Islanders dropped their third straight (0-2-1). Ilya Sorokin finished with 34 saves.
Lee tied the game at 4-4 early in the third period with a tenacious effort. After being hit by Johansen in the offensive zone and losing the puck, the Islanders captain rose, stole the puck from Johansen, skated to the high slot and fired a shot past Georgiev for his first of the season at 4:40. .
Rantanen then gave the Avalanche their fourth lead of the night as he beat Sorokin from the right circle for his team's fifth of the season with 7:47 remaining.
Johansen got an empty-netter with 1 minute left and Colton got another with 31 seconds left when Brock Nelson's reverse pass went all the way down the ice into the open net.
Trailing 2-1 after 20 minutes, the Islanders equalized early in the second period as Palmieri took a low pass from Mathieu Barzal, skated halfway past Georgiev, curled a shot past the keeper for his second at 2. :56. It was the Islanders' second goal on 12 power plays this season.
Holmstrom then put the Islanders ahead at 4:05 as he took a pass from Clutterback in the left circle and beat Georgiev for his first.
The Avalanche took a two-goal lead in an 11-second span in the final minute of the period. First, Byram hit a shot from high between the circles in traffic with 42 seconds left. MacKinnon then put Colorado ahead when he beat Sorokin from the left circle.
The Avalanche outscored the Islanders 17-6 in the opening period and got on the scoreboard just 21 seconds into their first power play of the night after Lee was ejected for interference. Johansen took a cross-ice pass from Radtanen and fired a one-meter shot from the left circle past Sorokin inside the left post at 5:19 of the first period for his third of the season.
The Islanders equalized just past the midway point of the period as Clutterbuck – standing just outside the crease – deflected Dobson's shot from the center past Georgiev for his first of the season.
Makar put the Avalanche back in front as he skated to the left circle and took a backhander past Sorokin for his third with 7:08 left in the opening period.
SERIES
Nichushkin extended his point streak to five games (one goal, five assists). … Radtanen pushed his point streak to four games (three goals, five assists). … Dobson has a four-point streak (one goal, four assists).
NEXT
Avalanche: At Pittsburgh Thursday night in the second of a three-game road trip.
Islanders: Host Ottawa Thursday night to complete a two-game sweep.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
