DENVER (AP) — Brock Nelson scored his first two goals of the season 2:49 apart in the second period, and the New York Islanders beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Monday night to give coach Patrick Roy a win in his first game back in Denver.
Roy won two of his four Stanley Cup wins with Colorado and coached the team for three years before stepping down a month before training camp in 2016.
Anthony Duclair, Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots.
Calum Ritchie got his first NHL goal and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for Colorado, which has dopped its first three games Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.
Takeaways
Islanders: After being shut out 3-0 in Dallas on Saturday night they responded with an impressive game on Monday night. They trailed 1-0 just 1:01 in but scored the next four goals to take the lead. When Mittlestadt made it 4-2 early in the second, Duclair answered with a goal six minutes later.
Avalanche: Georgiev played better but a couple of his miscues led directly to the first two New York goals. Lee scored when he didn’t keep his skate against the right post and his failed attempt at a poke check gave Palmieri an open net.
Key moment
Colorado trailed 3-1 and was on a power play in the second period when defenseman Cale Makar’s blind pass at his own blue line was intercepted by Nelson, and he beat Georgiev for a short-handed goal.
Key stat
New York was up 2-1 after the first period, the first time it has led after the first this season. Sorokin had 10 saves in the first 20 minutes.
Up next
The Islanders continue their road trip at St. Louis on Thursday night. The Avalanche host Boston on Wednesday night.
