Islanders make it five in a row with tough win over Avalanche
![Simon Holmstrom of the Islanders celebrates his third-period empty net...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AZjMwYzg1ODItNzk2NS00%3AMWE1OWNlNWYtNTNkZi00%2Fspisles250129.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
Simon Holmstrom of the Islanders celebrates his third-period empty net goal against the Colorado Avalanche with his teammates at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The defense corps was a patchwork with Scott Perunovich being the latest newcomer for the Islanders. So the Avalanche’s ability to play keepaway for long stretches in the offensive zone as their pressure forced turnovers the first two periods was not shocking.
But the Islanders’ grit and resilience, plus goalie Ilya Sorokin’s brilliant work, won out in a four-goal third period, which included two from Simon Holmstrom. They were rewarded with a gutsy 5-2 decision on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to conclude a 5-2-0 homestand with their season-high fifth straight victory and their eighth win in 10 games.
“I think it was a great effort,” said the 26-year-old Perunovich, acquired on Monday from the Blues for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2026 with defensemen Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock getting hurt in the previous two games and Mike Reilly also out indefinitely. “I haven’t been here long but I can tell this is a really good hockey team and we played a really good game tonight. I think it was a slow start for me but my teammates were helping me the entire game with systems and questions and my partner [Adam Pelech] took real good care of me, too.”
Sorokin made 30 saves for the Islanders (22-20-7), who moved within four points of the Lightning for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.
“We had great goaltending,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We gave maybe a little too many scoring chances. How many times have I said we don’t need to be perfect to win hockey games? It’s exactly what we did. We gave ourselves a chance tonight.”
“It feels great,” said Bo Horvat, who took Anders Lee’s feed to make it 3-1 at 11:23 of the third period as Perunovich notched his first point as an Islander with the secondary assist. “We’ve brought ourselves right back in the fight. We said we wanted to have a good homestand and to get five out of the seven is definitely huge for us.”
The 5-10, 175-pound Perunovich logged 18:52 and was a plus-2 with two shots, earning enough of Roy’s trust to play key shifts in the third period. Tony DeAngelo, signed out of the KHL on Friday, played 22:11 with two blocked shots as he also earned his first point as an Islander with an assist in his second game.
Alexander Romanov (25:12), who had a game-high six hits and made it 4-2 from the right point at 17:31, Pelech (24:17) and Scott Mayfield (17:07) were all heavily relied upon by Roy.
“They’re good professionals,” Sorokin said of Perunovich and DeAngelo integrating into the lineup. “Coach said to them our system and they played really good.”
Holmstrom, coming out with the puck deep in the Avalanche’s zone, lifted a wrister over Mackenzie Blackwood (23 saves) to make it 2-1 at 1:54 of the third period. Roy preserved that one-goal edge when he successfully challenged that Jack Drury interfered with Sorokin on defenseman Josh Manson’s apparent goal from the right point at 4:39.
It was a significant turning point considering the Avalanche (29-21-2) would have gone on the power play in a tie game had Roy’s challenge been unsuccessful.
“It was an easy call,” Roy said. “He came in the crease by himself and there was no way Ilya could move up.”
Despite the Avalanche’s constant pressure, the Islanders took a 1-0 lead at 4:11 of the second period as DeAngelo fed Brock Nelson up ice and Lee converted a backhand at the crease. But the Avalanche finally broke through to tie it at 1-1 at 13:00 as Nathan MacKinnon used his speed and stickhandling to gain the offensive zone and find Artturi Lehkonen, sitting on the ice, at the left post.
Notes & quotes: Maxim Tsyplakov logged 10:29 after serving a three-game suspension for his high hit on the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling and then being a healthy scratch for Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Hurricanes. “I miss hockey a little bit because I don’t play,” said the Russian rookie, who started Tuesday’s match on Kyle MacLean’s fourth line with Marc Gatcomb. “I think, for me, it’s a good time for a rest.” ... Forwards Pierre Engvall and Matt Martin and defenseman Dennis Cholowski were the healthy scratches.