The Colorado Avalanche are doing everything they could have dreamed of to start their season, riding a five-game win streak since dropping the puck on the new campaign.
On Tuesday night they will visit the New York Islanders looking to extend their run.
Of teams that had played at least four games, only the Boston Bruins (5-0-0) and Vegas Golden Knights (6-0-0) had matched Colorado’s pace heading into Tuesday’s action.
Coming off a 6-4 win Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Avalanche headed to New York riding a wave of confidence despite a lack of consistency.
Head coach Jared Bednar kept his lines reasonably consistent through preseason, yet Jonathan Drouin has already spent time on three different lines in the young regular season.
“I want to have some flexibility with our forward lines as we go throughout the year, ” Bednar told the Denver Post. “Depending on who we’re playing and what matchups we might see. So it’s a good time to experiment.”
So far, it’s worked for the Avalanche, with three road wins and two home wins, featuring 10 players chipping in with goals, led by Mikko Rantanen with four to go along with four assists.
Colorado’s special teams are also clicking at an improved rate with their power play at 27.8 percent, up from 24.7 percent during an injury-laden 2022-23 season. The penalty kill sits at 95.5 percent.
For the Islanders, center Brock Nelson has four points (three goals) through the team’s first four games.
Avoiding defensive mistakes and finding sustained consistency from its goaltending will be critical for New York, regardless of whether head coach Lane Lambert taps Ilya Sorokin or Semyon Varlamov to start.
“Our detail wasn’t where it needed to be,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Buffalo.
“You have to be extremely diligent with the puck and can’t give them any freebies when it comes to turnovers. We had too many of those tonight, and they had some sustained pressure.”
The Islanders opened the season with two straight wins before losing 5-4 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils on Friday and then falling in Buffalo on Saturday.
New York trailed 3-0 before Noah Dobson scored with 1:21 remaining to avoid the shutout. Varlamov made 40 saves against the Sabres in his first start of the season.
“It’s two nights in a row now where we’re trying,” Lambert said. “The intentions are good, but unintended consequences come along with that. And when you turn the puck over in the neutral zone, certainly against fast teams, and you know every team in this league is fast, and (can) transition quickly, you find yourself back in your own zone and spending way too much time there.”
Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury on Saturday and his status for Tuesday is uncertain.
–Field Level Media
