Colorado Avalanche Keys for the Game v New York Islanders
The Colorado Avalanche are completing the second game of their third back-to-back set this season. They’re playing the Islanders in New York.
After an exhilarating shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Colorado Avalanche hopped on their charter flight and headed for New York. Meanwhile, the Islanders have been chilling on Long Island since Thursday night, a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
The Colorado Avalanche have faced the New York Islanders 30 times. They have a winning record, 16-11-2-1(tie). However, the goal differential is only six — 87 to 81 in Colorado’s favor.
The two teams split their series last year, both winning away. The Avalanche beat the Islanders 2-1 in overtime on January 6, while the Islanders prevailed 5-1 on February 12.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the game-winning overtime goal while the team was on a power play:
The horrible reality is that was the only game Colorado won in all of January. But they won, so let’s focus on that.
How to Enjoy the Game
Game time: November, 4:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), MSG+ (Islanders feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)
Sweden Eve
I’m not sure exactly which day the Colorado Avalanche are leaving for Sweden to play their Global Series games, but this is the last stateside contest before then.
The players have to avoid looking into that future. They need to focus on the here and now. There’s plenty of time for them to get to Stockholm, Sweden, get situated, and play those two games against the Ottawa Senators.
Islander Player to Watch
John Tavares is always your Islander player to watch, and that’s no different now. Not only is the center leading the Islanders with 12 goals and five assists for 17 points, he’s second only to Nikita Kucherov in the entire NHL for goals scored up until the time of writing. Kucherov has 13 goals.
John Tavares will always be remembered in conjunction with Matt Duchene. The two share the same draft year. Tavares went first-overall while Duchene went third. The two have had very different careers, but said careers will always revolve around each other at least a little.
Challenges vs the Islanders
More from Mile High Sticking
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- 4 goalies to replace Pavel Francouz if he has to miss time
- Colorado Avalanche make sneaky signing with Tatar
- Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could return in 2023-24 playoffs
- Colorado Avalanche rookie face-off tournament roster
New York Islanders FanSided site Eye on Isles certainly concurs that Tavares is on fire. Actually, the comment was John Tavares is fire, so that’s a player a certain Minnesota-born Avalanche player (Erik Johnson) is sure to have in his sites all night long.
Indeed, apparently the Islanders have two high scoring lines to look out for. Well, the Avalanche are coming off a game in which both their top lines got all but one of the goals. And that goal was scored by their very dependable third line.
Finally, the Islanders power play “is clicking at a fantastic rate.” Right now their power play is #15 in the NHL with 19.1% success rate. The Colorado Avalanche’s penalty kill is #12 in the NHL with 81.5% accuracy. (They even got a short-handed goal against Philadelphia.) So, not that I want to see Colorado take penalties, but hopefully they can stay strong when they do.
Next: Avs Players Talk Hockey Fights Cancer
The Colorado Avalanche will finish their calendar year by playing the Islanders on New Year’s Eve. That’s the final meeting for the two teams this season.