The Islanders get their first win of the season when Roy returns to Denver

DENVER — Patrick Roy received no video tribute in his first return to Ball Arena since stepping down as Avalanche coach in 2016. Regardless, it's the film of his Islanders' first win of the season that he'll probably cherish.

A strong first start from Ilya Sorokin following offseason back surgery and two unassisted goals from Brock Nelson, including a shorthanded one, were some of the highlights of the Islanders' 6-2 victory Monday night in the middle game of a three-game road trip.

The Islanders (1-1-1) finish the road trip against the Blues on Thursday night.

Roy's return was confirmed during a break in the first period by being shown on the scoreboard and then his retired No. 33 being displayed in the rafters. Roy finished his Hall of Fame career as a goaltender with eight seasons with the Avalanche, leading them to the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001. He coached her for three seasons.

Sorokin, who signed an eight-year, $66 million extension, missed all preseason games and most of training camp after his surgery. But he tracked pucks well through traffic and controlled rebounds, making 32 saves.

His night got off to a rocky start, although not on his own. Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson found an open cut from Calum Ritchie to the far post and Ritchie scored with the backdoor tap-in after getting past Oliver Wahlstrom at 1:01 of the period first third for the 1-0. But Sorokin, who tracked the puck well through screens and deflections, stopped the next eight shots he faced in the first period.

Anders Lee tied the game at 1-1 at 5:33 when he made his way to the right post and flicked the puck past Alex Georgiev's left ball. Kyle Palmieri made it 2-1 at 18:13 of the first period when he used his glove to negate Manson's attempted cross-ice pass through the neutral zone and raced past the defender to the goal crease.

Nelson picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot from the slot for a 3-1 lead at 8:25 of the second period. At 11:14, he made it 4-1 with an unassisted shorthanded goal, intercepting the puck and skating between his circles to raise another wrister.

The Islanders' penalty kill, 2-2 against the Avalanche, had just negated a hooking call against Max Tsyplakov when Casey Mittelstadt's one-timer from the right circle off Nathan MacKinnon's cross-ice feed made it 4-2 just 39 seconds into the game into the third period. But defenseman Alexander Romanov found Anthony Duclair open in the crease at 6:48 for a three-goal lead.

Georgiev (32 saves) and the Avalanche (0-3-0) continued their difficult starts.

The Avalanche allowed 14 goals in their first two games and Georgiev was held out of both starts, allowing a total of eight goals on 25 shots in just over three periods.

Notes and quotes: Mathew Barzal's first goal of the season was a missed shot… Former Islanders defenseman Devon Toews, who was traded to the Avalanche for two second-round picks in a salary cap deal in 2020, was injured with a lower-body injury. kept him from playing his 400th NHL game… defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Julien Gauthier remained the healthy scratches for the Islanders.

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began covering the NHL in 2003 and previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments included the Jets, St. John's and MLB.