Notebook: Isles Close Road Trip with 3-1 Loss to Avalanche

The New York Islanders losing streak reached four games on Wednesday night, as they fell 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.
Joonas Donskoi, Andre Burakovsky and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche, while Pavel Francouz made 27 saves for the win. Brock Nelson scored the Islanders lone goal with 2:14 to play, but ultimately the Islanders went 0-for-4 on their Western Conference road trip, scoring two goals over that span.

"We've got our backs against the wall a little bit here and it's been a tough stretch and a brutal road trip," Anders Lee said. "Moving forward we just have to keep our heads and stick together and right the ship when we get back home in front of our fans, get some energy from them and figure this out. It's just been a tough trip that we weren't able to right. We have to think about it tonight and think about it on the flight tomorrow, but we have to move on and stick together."

AVALANCHE PEPPER ISLES:

The high-flying Avalanche lived up to their billing on Wednesday, pushing the pace on the Islanders and peppering Semyon Varlamov in his return to Colorado. The Avs outshot the Islanders 29-28 (with only three shots in the third period), but out-attempted them 71-51 on the night.
The shot advantage translated to goals early on. Donskoi opened the scoring for the Avalanche midway through the first period, deflecting Cale Makar's point shot past Semyon Varlamov at 9:07. Colorado out-attempted the Islanders 36-15 in the opening frame.
The second period started off all Avs, as Colorado held the Isles without a shot for the first seven-and-a-half minutes of the middle frame. The Avalanche struck early, as Burakovsky put made it 2-0, beating Varlamov with a glove side snipe 45 seconds into the second period.
"They jumped on us early. They came out with a better purpose at home," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "Their big guys were dangerous early. Varly kept us in it in the first, but our game settled down in the second and third. It's not coming easy for us."
Burakovsky's goal made it 2-0, but it could have been more, had it not been for Varlamov robbing Landeskog's backdoor feed, or Johnny Boychuk beating two Avs to a puck and clearing it out of the crease.

The Islanders couldn't get on the board with a (brief) five-on-three at the end of the second period, or a man advantage to start the third. Nelson had a goal waved off after crashing into Francouz, so instead of cutting the deficit to 2-1, Landeskog made it 3-0, beating a screened Varlamov with a wrister from the point at 7:43.
Nelson ended Francouz's shutout bid with 2:14 to play, knocking in a rebound at the side of the net for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season, but that's as close as the Islanders came.
"Right now we're going through some adversity, some guys are drying up, we've got some people out and we need some people to step up," Trotz said. "That said, the only people that are going to help us are the people in the room, our group and we are just going to have to find a way. We can't look back on this trip, we can't do anything repair this trip, but we can repair our next game and the following game and focus on what's ahead of us."
After Wednesday's result - and going 0-4-0 on their road trip - the Islanders currently sit in the second Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference. While their first four-game regulation losing streak since Dec. 2017, the Islanders are focusing on turning the page, embracing the adversity and responding back on home ice on Friday night.
"You can let [adversity] take over you, get into your head and let it bring you down, or you can let it fuel you," Lee said. "You can be more determined by it, be inspired by it and that's how you grow as a person and as a team. I don't think that any of this tough stretch right here is going to be the one that knocks us down, I don't think that's who we are as a group, that's not who we are as the New York Islanders and that's why we're looking forward to Friday to figure it all out. You have to choose how you let the adversity affect you. If we handle it the right way, we'll be alright."

BRASSARD LEAVES GAME WITH UPPER-BODY INJURY:

Derick Brassard left the game in the first period after taking a deflected Ryan Pulock wrist shot to the head. Pulock's shot deflected off of Anthony Beauvillier's skate before catching Brassard up high. He did not return.

KUHNHACKL IN, JOHNSTON OUT:

Tom Kuhnhackl drew back into the lineup on Wednesday, replacing Ross Johnston.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders return home to face the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at Nassau Coliseum at 8 p.m. Friday is also John Tonelli's jersey retirement night, hence the late puck drop. The ceremony begins at 6:30.