Grabner's goal in OT extends streak
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs New York Islanders.Michael Grabner skated into the slot and scored 1:46 into overtime Friday to give the New York Islanders a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.
The victory was the Islanders' third in a row and sixth in a row on the road. New York (17-22-7) has won six of its past seven games.
Colorado (27-12-5) completed a seven-game homestand 4-1-2.
The Islanders tied the game 1-1 at 4:28 of the third period on a goal by Brock Nelson. Calvin de Haan made a pass and the puck went off Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit's stick. It bounced to Nelson, who gained possession and fired a shot from the slot past goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin kept the game tied when he made a save against Cody McLeod at 8:20 after McLeod stole the puck from Ryan Strome in the New York end and drove to the net.
Avalanche left wing Nathan MacKinnon scored first at 18:15 of the second period, using his speed to skate into the Islanders end after taking a pass from Benoit at his blue line. MacKinnon moved down left wing, blew by defenseman Matt Donovan, and cut to the net. He went to his forehand and beat Poulin low to the glove side.
The goal was MacKinnon's fifth in the past four games, ninth in 13 games, and 15th for the season, tying injured San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl for the goal-scoring lead among NHL rookies. MacKinnon leads all rookies in scoring with 29 points.
Varlamov made a stop against de Haan one minute before MacKinnon scored. De Haan took a shot from the right point with teammate John Tavares in front looking for a tip or deflection. Varlamov fell on his back to keep the puck from crossing the goal line.
Each team came into the game with a dangerous power play but neither was unable to convert on two man-advantages. The Islanders were 9-for-18 in a five-game stretch, and the Avalanche were 7-for-14 in the previous five games.
Poulin made 30 saves; Varlamov had 22.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
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11/01/2014 - 06:00
