Avalanche lose to Islanders after trading Duchene
NEW YORK -- Jordan Eberle and Nick Leddy scored twice apiece and Mathew Barzal collected a franchise rookie-record five assists Sunday night for the New York Islanders, who cruised past the Colorado Avalanche, 6-4, during a game at Barclays Center in which the Avalanche traded star center Matt Duchene.
Duchene was active for the game but played just 1:59 in the first period before being pulled as a three-way trade with the Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators was being finalized.
Duchene was dealt to the Senators, who sent center Kyle Turley to the Predators in the highlights of the blockbuster deal. Colorado also got four players (rookie center Shane Bowers and goalie Andrew Hammond from Ottawa and defenseman Samuel Girard and rookie left winger Vladislav Kamenev) as well as three 2018 draft picks as its rebuilding project kicked into high gear.
While the Avalanche (8-6-0) are off to a surprising start, they finished last year with 48 points -- the fewest by a non-expansion team since the 1998-99 campaign -- and began dangling Duchene, who spent his entire nine-year career with the franchise, in talks with other teams prior to last March's trade deadline.
The Islanders (8-5-1) have won six of eight.
The two-goal game was the first of Leddy's eight-year career and the first for Eberle since he was acquired June 22 by the Islanders. Barzal finished one assist shy of the single-game team record held by Hall of Famer Mike Bossy.
Scott Mayfield and Johnny Boychuk also scored for New York while goalie Thomas Greiss recorded 31 saves.
Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche, who received two goals in the final half-minute of the third from Alexander Kerfoot. Goalie Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched D Adam Pelech (upper body), who missed his second straight game, as well as D Thomas Hickey and C Alan Quine. ... The Islanders improved to 11-2-0 in home games at Barclays Center against Western Conference foes playing the second game of a back-to-back set. The Avalanche beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4, in the shootout on Saturday... The Avalanche had only one scratch, D Andrew Mironov, but Colorado was also without D Anton Lindholm, who suffered a broken jaw Saturday night and will miss the team's trip to his native Sweden later this week. ... Avalanche LW Blake Comeau was hit in the ear by a puck while trying to block a shot and exited with 10:37 remaining in the first period.