This was by far the most complete game the Avalanche have played this season, even if Semyon Varlamov had to make 40 saves Thursday night in a 5-0 win against the New York Islanders at the Pepsi Center.

Nathan MacKinnon ended a 10-game drought with two goals; the Avalanche killed six penalties, running that streak to 17 in a row over four games; Matt Duchene had two assists and won 12 of 17 faceoffs; Erik Johnson and Cody McLeod had a goal and an assist; Max Talbot two assists; the Avalanche blocked 22 shots; and the fourth line of McLeod, Marc-Andre Cliche and Talbot combined for two goals and three assists. Oh, and all three players killed penalties.

The Avalanche (3-4-4) have collected a point in five consecutive games (2-0-3) heading to this weekend's back-to-back games against St. Louis on the road Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday at home.

The Islanders (6-4-0), who opened a five-game trip through the rugged Western Conference, were averaging 3.88 goals per game and in first place in the Metropolitan Division. They slipped into second with the loss, one point behind Pittsburgh.

The shutout was the 14th of Varlamov's NHL career, his 10th with the Avalanche. He has gone 2-0-2 while stopping 141 of 148 shots in his past four starts, 89 of 91 in the past two.

"I had a rough start and right now it’s very important for me to get my confidence back," Varlamov said. "It was important game for us. Really frustrating about that game two days ago (Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to San Jose). It was a tough loss, but tonight we played solid hockey, played all three periods. We scored a lot of goals too. We get our confidence back for our offense."

Coach Patrick Roy said of Varlamov: "He is solid. He’s played well. Tonight they had a lot of shots from the outside and a lot of shots (10) on the power play. At times when we needed him he was there. He made big saves. He’s one of the best, if not the best, in the game right now. We have a lot of confidence in him."

Said Islanders star John Tavares, who had five shots: "Yeah, (Varlamov) was good. He’s an elite goalie in our league and he definitely didn’t give us too many rebounds or second opportunities. We probably could’ve made that a little bit tougher on him, but I thought we generated some chances. They blocked a lot of shots and we just need to find a way to get a little more gritty, find a way to get an ugly one and things will start to turn our way.”

MacKinnon, last season's Calder Trophy winner, said in the morning that he wasn't worried about his goal drought, but he sure looked excited when he ended it with a power-play goal at 3:25 of the second period, when the Avalanche scored three times to build a 4-0 lead.

"It was strange to see it go in, my first goal since the playoffs," said MacKinnon, who showed plenty of patience before shooting the puck over prone goalie Chad Johnson. "It's nice. I figured it would come sooner or later, obviously a little later than I wanted, but it's all in the past now. I didn't expect to have that much time in front of the net.

"It was a huge win at home, Varly making 40 saves and really helping our team get this win. Everybody played a solid game, the PK did a phenomenal job against one of the best in the league. We have to build on our record, it's not where we want it to be."

MacKinnon used his speed to drive to the net to score his second goal at 10:14 -- 75 seconds after Cliche scored. Jarome Iginla was along the right boards when he fended off a check by Calvin de Haan and passed to MacKinnon.

"I didn't even yell for the puck," MacKinnon said. "He saw me, thankfully, put it on my stick and I didn't really have to do anything. I think my game against San Jose was a lot better than tonight. It's funny how it works. I don’t score for 10 and then I get two in one night. "

Cliche had his best game since joining the Avalanche in September 2013. Aside from his goal -- he found an opening from the side of the net between the near post and Johnson's right pad -- Cliche won 12 of 16 faceoffs and logged 6:33 of his 13:40 in ice time killing penalties.

McLeod gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 2:34 of the opening period on the first shot of the game. After a partial line change, Duchene was behind the net when he passed to McLeod near the right post for his first goal of the season.

"We started off good and that's how we have to play more often," McLeod said. "We have to beat the puck down low and take it to the net and play ugly like that. (The Islanders) have been playing good, they've been off to a good start. Our PK's been pretty solid for most of the season. I think we adjust well to teams."

*****

I highly recommend you check out Save by Roy, an in-depth look at the Avalanche's surprising 2013-14 season. It can be purchased on amazon.com and will be available wherever books are sold Nov. 5. It's written by Denver Post sports reporters Adrian Dater and Terry Frei.



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