Brock Nelson scored his first two goals of the season just 2:49 apart in the second period, helping the New York Islanders defeat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Monday night. This win marked coach Patrick Roy’s return to Denver.
Roy won two of his four Stanley Cup championships with Colorado and coached the team for three years before leaving a month before training camp in 2016.
In addition to Nelson, Anthony Duclair, Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee, and Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders, while Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves.
Calum Ritchie scored his first NHL goal, and Casey Mittelstadt added another for Colorado, which has lost its first three games. Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves in goal.
After being shut out 3-0 by Dallas on Saturday, they bounced back with a strong performance.
They fell behind 1-0 just 1:01 into the game but then scored the next four goals to take the lead. When Mittelstadt made it 4-2 early in the second period, Duclair responded with a goal six minutes later.
Georgiev played better than in previous games, but a couple of mistakes led to the first two goals for New York. Lee scored because Georgiev didn’t keep his skate against the right post, and his failed poke check gave Palmieri an easy shot.
Colorado was down 3-1 and had a power play in the second period when defenseman Cale Makar made a blind pass at his own blue line that Nelson intercepted, leading to a short-handed goal against Georgiev.
New York led 2-1 after the first period, marking the first time this season they have been ahead after the first. Sorokin had 10 saves in those first 20 minutes.
