Islanders hang tough but succumb to powerful Avalanche in overtime

DENVER — The Islanders have made a habit this season of hanging around in nearly every game. 

But even they can only withstand so much pressure before the dam bursts. 

The Avalanche imposed their will on the Islanders throughout a 5-4 overtime loss in which the Isles were extremely fortunate to get a point, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring the winner at four-on-three.

Still, it was the third loss in four games for the visitors, and the gameflow very much illustrated the gap between the Isles and a team considered to be one of the Stanley Cup favorites. 

It does say something about the Isles that they kept the game close as long as they did, despite being badly outskated.

But whatever silver lining comes from that is more than canceled out by the pair of leads the Isles handed away. 

From the jump, the Islanders spent most of the game scrambling in the defensive zone, didn’t seem to have an answer for the Avalanche’s speed and struggled to possess the puck for any extended period. 

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov also left the game with an apparent injury after 14:52, forcing Ilya Sorokin into relief.

So, too, did Robert Bortuzzo in the second period — without putting weight on his right leg — after taking a big hit from Samuel Girard along the left wall. 

Despite all that, the Islanders entered the third period with a 4-3 lead after Alexander Romanov’s one-timer caromed off Jack Johnson’s skate and in 10:18 into the second. 

But it was never realistic for that lead to hold with the Islanders letting up as much offensive zone pressure as they were, particularly after Mike Reilly took an interference penalty at the 10:47 mark of the third. 

Valeri Nichushkin tied the game for Colorado before that power play expired, tapping the puck in after Cale Makar’s shanked shot from the point fell to Nathan MacKinnon at the post, his second goal of the night. 

Nichushkin came close to completing the hat trick before regulation expired, but his drive to the net with 20 seconds to go was ruled no goal upon review, allowing the Islanders to escape with a point. 

MacKinnon’s right-circle one-timer after Scott Mayfield’s penalty at the end of regulation, though, made getting two points a mere dream. 

The Avalanche doubled up the Islanders in the shot count during the first period, but at the intermission, it was 2-1 to the visitors.

That came courtesy of Pierre Engvall’s goal off the rush 5:39 into the game — a quick response after Engvall was made a healthy scratch in Pittsburgh on Sunday — and Brock Nelson lighting the lamp on the power play by splitting a pair of defenders and sliding the puck through Georgiev’s five-hole. 

Devon Toews provided a quick response for the Avs after Engvall’s goal, beating Varlamov at the 6:11 mark, but both netminders otherwise stood up to immense pressure throughout the 20 minutes. 

The Islanders continued to capitalize on their rush chances, with Simon Holmstrom converting just 1:09 into the second to open up a 3-1 lead.

But a pair of goals from Val Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin canceled it out in short order. 

Thirty-seven games into the season, it is becoming a little futile to wonder whether the Islanders are a good team dressed in bad clothing or vice versa.

The reality right now is, they are in a tight playoff race and need to keep collecting points. 

And the reality is that playing the way they did on Tuesday, at a bare minimum, makes that a lot harder than it needs to be. 

Maybe the Isles haven’t been bitten all that often by that reality — getting out of Ball Arena with a point is, after all, some proof of that.

But keeping this up is not going to be easy if things look the way they did on Tuesday.