Avalanche at Islanders
The New York Islanders attempt to extend their season-opening home point streak to six games when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. New York has struggled on the road but is 4-0-1 at Barclays Center, where it has scored at least five goals in each contest during its current three-game winning stretch.
The Islanders hope to bounce back from a 4-3 loss at Washington on Thursday in which they battled back from three deficits before finally succumbing. Colorado posted its third consecutive overall victory Saturday as Mikko Rantanen scored in the third round of the shootout to give the team a 5-4 triumph at Philadelphia. The 21-year-old Finn also recorded his team-leading fifth goal in the win, scoring with the man advantage to give him a club-high four power-play tallies. Rantanen, who registered 20 goals as a rookie last season, shares the scoring lead on the Avalanche with Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Tyson Barrie with 12 points.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), MSG Plus (New York)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (8-5-0): Colorado was without forwards Matt Nieto and Rocco Grimaldi on Saturday due to an illness that is running through the team's locker room. Gabriel Bourque, who had missed a week with an upper-body injury, was activated from injured reserve and joined defenseman Nikita Zadorov as replacements in the lineup. Barrie notched a point in nine of his last 10 games but has scored only two goals thus far this season - both of which were game-winners, giving him the team lead in that category.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (7-5-1): Anders Lee continued his offensive tear on Thursday, scoring two goals and setting up another for his third straight multi-point performance. The effort also gave the 27-year-old six tallies and seven assists during his seven-game point streak. Captain John Tavares also has been red-hot, recording multiple points in five of his last six contests (14 overall in that span) after notching a goal and an assist against the Capitals.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche will head to Sweden following Sunday's contest for a pair of games against Ottawa as part of the 2017 SAP NHL Global Series.
2. New York D Adam Pelech missed Thursday's game with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day.
3. Colorado G Jonathan Bernier is expected to start Sunday after Semyon Varlamov was in net for the win over the Flyers.