DENVER _ If the year ended with a bang for the Islanders, it was only the noise from doors being slammed inside the visitors room at the Pepsi Center.
The Isles were out-everythinged on New Year's Eve, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Avalanche that featured Doug Weight being ejected late in the second period for cursing out veteran referees Steve Kozari and Chris Rooney.
The game was long lost before then, however, as the Isles fell behind by a goal after an acceptable first period and then fell apart in the second, allowing 36 shot attempts, 23 on Jaroslav Halak and four goals. Halak did what he could before getting the mercy pull after 40 minutes and 35 shots on goal, but there weren't many other Islanders who could say the same.
Colorado goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves, beaten only by Josh Bailey's slapper with 7:36 to go to break the shutout.
They were beaten to loose pucks and, far more important with a packed schedule of four games in the next six days before their five-day break, the Isles depleted defense had a lot of trouble containing the Avalanche's forwards from pouncing on second and third shot attempts around the net. Even with the game well in hand, the Avalanche didn't let up, pumping 48 shots on the two Islanders goaltenders.
The Avs started their middle-period onslaught when Matt Nieto redirected Carl Soderberg's feed at 5:25. It finished off a sequence that started with Colorado on an odd-man rush _ not a rare sight on Sunday _ and Nieto, Soderberg and Blake Comeau each had a shot that Halak turned aside.
Nick Leddy retrieved the puck after a fourth save by Halak, on Erik Johnson, but Comeau bumped Leddy off the puck behind the Isles net and the Avs went to work quickly.
The ice completely tilted after that. Soderberg and Colin Wilson outworked Thomas Hickey and rookie defenseman Sebastian Aho, making his NHL debut, and Soderberg flipped a backhand over Halak from in close to make it 3-0 at 12:30.
Adam Pelech took a weak interference call at 15:20, just the second minor whistled against the Islanders in the game _ the Avs were circling for more, flying through the crease at will to disrupt Halak's view of incoming shots and hunting for rebounds when Pelech dove to try and clear an Avalanche forward away.
Gabriel Landeskog converted on that power play, stuffing a rebound behind Halak with Hickey unable to move the big Avs captain at 16:35. That's when Weight lost his cool.
He shouted some expletives at Rooney to immediately draw a bench minor and didn't stop, earning a game misconduct, believed to be the first time an Islanders was ejected from a game since Mike Milbury was behind the bench in the 1990s.
During the ensuing power play Scott Mayfield was whistled for cross-checking and Landeskog converted on the five-on-three for a 5-0 hole.
Thomas Greiss relieved Halak for the third and associated coach Greg Cronin assumed the controls behind the bench, but the Isles were already on their way to finishing December with a 5-8-2 record, keeping them just a point ahead of the Hurricanes for the last playoff spot in the East with Carolina holding a game in hand. The isles have also gone winless in their last six (0-5-1) on the road.
