New York Islanders at Colorado Avalanche

Burakovsky's late goal lifts Avalanche over Islanders 5-3

Burakovsky has scored in three consecutive games and also added an assist for Colorado, which has won four straight. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews also had goals for the Avalanche, and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves.

Toews added two assists against his former team.

“You have friends on other teams and people that are close to you. At the end of the day you’ve got to go out there and do your job,” Toews said.

The Islanders appeared to take the lead at 11:49 of the third period when Sebastian Aho’s shot trickled through Kuemper’s pads and slid across the goal line. It was initially ruled a goal but reversed upon review.

“It was actually our stick that probably prevented it from going in. We just needed another inch,” New York coach Barry Trotz said.

“There should have been a penalty on Sebastian Aho. They didn’t call a penalty and he was hauled down. If it wasn’t a goal we should have been on the power play; that didn’t happen. They score on a turnover, on us. We’ve got to manage that puck. We didn’t.”

Less than a minute later the Islanders were down a goal.

“That was deflating for a couple of seconds,” forward Zach Parise said. “You’ve got to turn the page and play. We were pretty sure that was going to be counted a goal, so a tough break for us to not come out of that game with a point. We played a solid game and deserved better.”

Burakovsky got the winner with a shot from the right circle at 12:48, his 17th goal of the season. Erik Johnson scored into an empty net with 43 seconds left.

Burakovsky had a 17-game goal drought before scoring the deciding goal against Winnipeg on Friday night to start his streak.

“I think I was creating before, too. I got chances but maybe a little bit unlucky, didn’t bounce my way,” he said. “If you look at my goal, it hit the (defenseman’s) stick and went five-hole. Luck turned a little bit.”

Ryan Pulock, Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau had goals for New York, which finished its road trip 2-2-1. Ilya Sorokin stopped 39 shots.

“We could have been 3-2, maybe 4-1 if we could have gotten this one,” Trotz said. “The one game we had a clunker was LA.”

MacKinnon scored for the third straight game to put Colorado ahead early in the first and Pulock tied it for the Islanders midway through the period. Toews put the Avalanche back in front 2-1 with his 10th goal at 3:54 of the second, but New York responded with goals by Pageau and Palmieri to take a 3-2 lead into the third period.

Colorado came out firing pucks at the net to start the third, putting 10 on Sorokin in the first four minutes. The 11th shot, a backhander by Landeskog from behind the net that deflected off Sorokin’s leg, tied it again.

Landeskog leads the Avalanche with 29 goals and has 15 in his last 16 games.

MILESTONE NIGHT

Colorado defenseman Jack Johnson played in his 1,000th NHL game. Johnson is the 21st American-born defenseman and the 363rd player in NHL history to reach the mark. The Avalanche held a pregame ceremony to honor Johnson, which included a video of his career with five teams. His wife and two children were next to him.

“The 21st U.S. defenseman to hit 1,000, that’s incredible,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “To go get that win tonight on his 1,000th game was big, too.”

Game notes
Avalanche RW Valeri Nichushkin was scratched with an upper-body injury. ... Islanders C Mathew Barzal (lower-body injury) and D Zdeno Chara (upper-body injury) were scratched. They are expected to miss at least two games. ... Colorado D Cale Makar extended his assist streak to nine games with two. He is tied with John-Michael Liles for the longest assist streak by an Avalanche defenseman.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

Avalanche: At the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night.

COL leads series 1-0