Patrick Roy, Islanders smother Avalanche, send Colorado to 0-3 start

It will be difficult to win games when the increasingly undermanned Colorado Avalanche are playing well early this season. That's impossible when the Avs play like they did Monday night.

Two defeats at the start of the 2024-25 season were largely explained by two poor goalkeeping performances. This was there for everyone.

The New York Islanders scored three unassisted goals – all on turnovers by Colorado's best healthy players – en route to a 6-2 victory at Ball Arena in Patrick Roy's return to Denver as the visiting team's head coach.

“There are no excuses,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I didn’t like our game tonight. From top to bottom it was terrible.”

Devon Toews became the latest key player to join the infirmary. He missed the game due to a lower body injury. Jonathan Drouin (upper body) missed his second straight game and joins three forwards (Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichuhskin and Gabe Landeskog) who are all out until at least November.

That's more than $27 million in unavailable players, but this team's other top players didn't have a good night and the Avs are now 0-3 to start the season.

“Three of their six goals, or four of the six, were directly my fault,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “That's just how it is. Some really stupid, childish mistakes and you have to learn from them. I have to be better for the guys, and I think a lot of that is on me.”

Colorado started this game well. The Avs dominated the opening minutes, including Calum Ritchie's first NHL goal 61 seconds into the game. Ritchie was wide open at the far post and Josh Manson quickly put him ahead 1-0.

There were a few major shifts after that, but that was the highlight. The Islanders, long notorious for their patient, structured style of play, clogged the ice and waited to capitalize on the Avalanche's mistakes.

And there were plenty.

After the Islanders tied the score when Anders Lee knocked down the rebound of his wraparound between Alexandar Georgiev and the near post at 5:33 of the first period, the next 24-plus minutes were the worst of the season for the Colorado players tip of their goalkeeper.

Kyle Palmieri reached out and intercepted Manson's dump-in attempt at New York's blue line, then went at Georgiev alone. The goaltender lunged for a poke check and got the puck, but it came off Palmieri's skate and he was able to easily collect it into the open net at 18:13 of the first period and a 2-1 lead.

Colorado's new-look front line, with Ross Colton alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, coughed up the puck several times during a shift in the second period, leading to a Brock Nelson goal at 8:25. When the Avs finally got their first power play of the game, even that phase of the game was a mess.

Avs coach Jared Bednar pulled the top unit off the ice after a shorthanded chance created the possibility of an extra man with 20 seconds left. Once they were out, Cale Makar turned the puck over and Nelson scored again without an assist at 11:14, giving the visiting team a 4-1 lead.