Islanders at Avalanche
After completing a perfect three-game road trip with a shutout of the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Colorado Avalanche return home to open a pronounced stretch at the Pepsi Center on Thursday when they host the New York Islanders. Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves and ended Patrick Kane's franchise-best 26-game point streak in a 3-0 victory over Chicago on Tuesday.
Varlamov has turned aside 189-of-196 shots in his last six outings for Colorado, which has won six of eight heading into a stretch of playing 11 of its next 13 at home. "We know we have to be better at home," coach Patrick Roy told the team website on Wednesday. "I think we're going to have to simplify our game in a way that, we can't go out there feeling that we have to impress the crowd; we absolutely have to dominate the games. I think we need to go out there and play a simple hockey game, like we're doing on the road." New York opens a brief two-game trek on the heels of a disheartening 5-1 setback to Florida that snapped its 10-game point streak.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus2 (New York), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (18-9-5): Brock Nelson scored his second goal in four contests, but that was all New York could muster in a lopsided loss to the Panthers. "It's not the way you expect the streak to end," Frans Nielsen told reporters. "Losing stinks, always does. We can’t be happy just because we had 10 in a row with points, we have high expectations of ourselves every night." Ryan Strome has been held off the scoresheet in each of his last four contests, but collected a goal and an assist in New York's 5-3 win over Colorado on Nov. 30.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (15-16-1): Matt Duchene has recorded 15 goals and 11 assists in his last 22 games, but wasn't at his best in the teams' first meeting as he was dealing with flu-like symptoms. Veteran Blake Comeau certainly stepped up in that encounter against the team that drafted him, scoring his fourth goal of the season. The 29-year-old Comeau hasn't been able to get going since then, however, as he's been limited to just two assists in the subsequent eight games.
OVERTIME
1. New York has killed off all 24 short-handed opportunities over the last 10 contests.
2. Colorado's four home wins are tied with San Jose and Columbus for the fewest in the league.
3. Islanders RW Kyle Okposo has scored two goals and set up three others in his last four games.