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The New York Islanders came up short against the Colorado Avalanche yesterday, falling 5-3.
Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring for Colorado only about three minutes into the game, putting the puck through Anders Lee then spinning and firing a shot past Ilya Sorokin. The Islanders responded though, with Ryan Pulock putting a shot through traffic to beat Darcy Kuemper, and despite being outshot 13-8, the Islanders escaped the frame with the game still tied.
Early in the second period though, Devon Toews scored against his former team, taking a pass and wristing a shot past Sorokin through a screen. Once again though, the Islanders responded, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau beating Kuemper just 45 seconds later to tie the game again. Then later in the frame, Kyle Palmieri knocked in a loose puck to give the Islanders their first lead of the period, which they held going into the intermission.
Things took a turn in the third period though, with the Avalanche firing a ridiculous 21 shots on Sorokin. First, Gabriel Landeskog scored a weak goal on Sorokin, banking the puck in off him from behind the net on a power play. Then after the Islanders seemingly scored but it was ruled that the puck never fully crossed the line, Colorado went back the other way soon after and Andre Burakovsky took a pass and beat Sorokin to put the Avalanche ahead 4-3. Then in the final minute, Erik Johnson sent the puck down ice for an empty net goal, securing a victory for Colorado.
While the Islanders looked okay at times, they were still generally outplayed through most of the game (minus the second period), surrendering 43 shots, which obviously isn’t acceptable.
I suppose a bright spot is that Kyle Palmieri has found his game as of late, with five goals and six points over his last eight games, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau has four goals and six points over his last nine games. It’s secondary scoring the Islanders have completely lacked this year but at this point, it’s too little, too late.
The loss marked the final game of the Islanders’ five-game road trip, in which they went 2-2-1. New York is now down to 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage, with their next game coming tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks, as they kick off a six-game homestand.
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PollMaker 
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