Islanders give Avalanche a battle before dropping to 4-1 on road trip

DENVER — Playing well did not equal two points for the Islanders.

Not against the Avalanche, who are atop the overall NHL standings.

“Their goaltender was the story of the game,” coach Patrick Roy said. “It’s probably our best game of the road trip.”

Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves, stoning Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri in the final three minutes, as the Islanders’ winning streak was snapped at four games on Sunday night at Ball Arena.

The 4-1 final was not indicative of the even match. The Avalanche scored twice within 19 seconds in the final minute of the third period, an empty-netter by Martin Necas followed by a goal by Brock Nelson, who was playing his first game against his former team.

The Islanders (10-7-2), who are 4-1-0 on this seven-game road trip, played with a sound defensive structure, often keeping the Avalanche to the outside and maintaining offensive-zone time with their forecheck and cycles. Still, the Avalanche (13-1-5) won their fifth straight as part of an 8-0-2 spurt.

“That was a great hockey game,” Anders Lee said. “Both teams played good. [Ilya] Sorokin stood tall. I thought Wedgewood had a great game on the other end. We had looks. His rebound control was really good and I thought he was pretty athletic.”

Sorokin stopped 24 shots, with the Islanders’ only true glitch coming when they allowed the Avalanche to take a 2-1 lead at 5:51 of the second period on goals by Ross Colton and Victor Olofsson one minute, 19 seconds apart.

The Islanders killed off all three Avalanche power plays but went 0-for-4 on their own power play, with Wedgewood making nine saves against the man advantage.

One quibble about the Islanders’ attack was that they didn’t get enough bodies to the crease to screen Wedgewood.

“Tonight, it’s tough,” said defenseman Scott Mayfield, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games to be with his wife on Long Island for the birth of the couple’s first child, Theodore. “The goaltending was good. We had the chances but we couldn’t finish a couple.”

Rookie Max Shabanov also returned to the lineup after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury. He logged 10:33 with two shots while playing on an effective fourth line with rookie center Cal Ritchie, facing the Avalanche for the first time since being acquired as part of the Nelson deal on March 6, and Casey Cizikas.

Nelson, fifth on the Islanders’ all-time list of games played with 901, got the secondary assist on Colton’s wrister to tie it at 1-1 at 4:32 of the second period. Then he deflected defenseman Brent Burns’ shot past Sorokin with 15.3 seconds remaining after Necas clinched the victory with an empty-netter with 34.8 seconds to go.

Nelson played 19:04 with three shots and won 10 of 27 faceoffs. He’s scheduled to play his first game at UBS Arena with the Avalanche on Dec. 4.

“It turned into business quick,” Lee said. “Some of the other guys saw him a few more times than I did. I was going to take a draw and then, of course, they kicked me out.”

Jonathan Drouin also faced the Avalanche for the first time since signing with the Islanders as a free agent after two seasons with Colorado. He logged 21:12 with two shots.

Roy won two Stanley Cups as the Avalanche goalie, then coached them for three seasons, and he received a standing ovation during a first-period stoppage as a video highlighted his time in Colorado. Islanders assistant coach Ray Bennett spent the previous eight seasons in the same role with the Avalanche and was welcomed back along with Drouin.

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead at 2:05 of the first period as defenseman Tony DeAngelo’s feed to the slot deflected in off Emil Heineman’s skate. The goal survived a quick review for a kicking motion and marked the third straight game in which Heineman scored the first goal. He’s the third Islander to do so, according to team statistician Eric Hornick, after John Tonelli (1982-83) and Ray Ferraro (1990-91).

Notes & quotes: Horvat (eight games) and Mathew Barzal (six games) had their point streaks snapped . . . Simon Holmstrom had a game-high four of the Islanders’ 14 blocked shots . . . Forwards Max Tsyplakov and Kyle MacLean and defenseman Adam Boqvist were the healthy scratches.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.