Colorado Avalanche in tough battle with Isles despite sluggish second period

The Colorado Avalanche were the lesser team in the second period on Long Island against the New York Islanders but still found a way to lead heading to the third period.

Colorado had a 2-1 lead going into the second stanza, but quickly relinquished the lead after Kyle Palmieri scored only 2:56 into the second on the power play. Nearly three minutes later the Islanders took the lead on a Simon Holmstrom goal to make it 3-2 New York.

What seemed like a listless fourteen minutes went by, with all-world goalie Ilya Sorokin stopping any high-percentage opportunities the Avalanche had, but the Islanders generally dominated the period.

That is until an unlikely source provided a spark. At 19:18 of the second period, Bowen Byram ripped a laser where momma hides the cookies (top shelf) over Sorokin’s right shoulder to tie the game at three. Byram’s been maligned a bit so far this season, as Coach Jared Bednar has expected more of the twenty-two-year-old first-round pick.

This goal provided an immediate spark for Colorado. Thirteen seconds later Nathan MacKinnon gave the Avalanche the lead going into the third period with a snipe past Sorokin to make it 4-3 Avs.

The Islanders are controlling the dot tonight, winning 64 percent of faceoffs. The Avalanche have held them at bay, at least in the first period, allowing only six shots through that stanza. The Islanders had sixteen shots in the second, and the Avalanche need to shore that up moving forward to the third.

Road wins are not easy to come by in today’s NHL, especially when crossing time zones like the Colorado Avalanche are tonight.

The late second period spark of two goals in thirteen seconds gave them back momentum through the break. The game is theirs for the taking.

Early in the third period, the Islanders tied the game at 4-4, but then Mikko Rantanen got a goal to push the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-4 lead.