DENVER _ This was not destined to be one for the time capsule. The Islanders were coming off a five-day break and traveled out here for their lone visit of the season, and the Avalanche has simply been stumbling and bumbling all season.
Thomas Greiss was sharp, even though his Islanders teammates were far from it. That only got the Islanders one point as Nathan MacKinnon scored on a rebound with 16.1 seconds left in overtime to send the Isles to a 2-1 loss.
Calvin de Haan was whistled for a hooking call late in OT and the Avalanche took advantage, winning its first home game in the last 10. Greiss had 37 saves.
Greiss, who came into the game with the sixth-best even-strength save percentage in the NHL at .938, was again up to the task in the third period with the score tied. He stopped two Jarome Iginla rippers on a Colorado power play and stretched across to rob Mikko Rantanen with the teams playing four-on- four, all in the first 10 minutes of the final period.
Calvin Pickard, Colorado's young backup goaltender, was equal to Greiss' challenge. Pickard denied Josh Bailey from in close with eight minutes left, one of his 35 saves.
After a few chances on which the Islanders got frustratingly close to beating Pickard, including a shot by Travis Hamonic that was deflected in but waved off for an offside call, the Islanders used their struggling power play to get even.
Hamonic's almost-goal came on a delayed call _ he pulled the puck back just a hair over the line before getting off the shot that was tipped in _ to Fedor Tyutin at 15:58. At 16:41, Nikita Zadorov shoved Shane Prince into the side boards, sending another defenseman to the penalty box and giving the Islanders a five-on-three for 1:17.
They were patient with the two-man advantage, with Ryan Strome maneuvering to the right of the Colorado net to set up a big blast from Johnny Boychuk. When Boychuk locked into position and took a short feed from Nick Leddy, Pickard couldn't stop it from sailing into the top corner for Boychuk's fifth of the season and the score was tied at 1 heading to the third.
The Islanders' second period looked a fair distance better than their first, which was perhaps to be expected. Coming in with just one practice in the prior five days and jumping right into the altitude in Denver were not the best ways to resume the Isles' season after their mandatory time off.
So they looked sluggish, even against one of the bottom two teams in the league. Gabriel Landeskog put the Avs on the board at 6:06 of the first, curling around the Islanders net and getting loads of time to stop, turn and snap a shot past Greiss.
Things could have gotten away from the Isles at 14:16 of the first, when recent waiver claim Matt Nieto sped around de Haan for a breakaway chance. De Haan hooked Nieto off the puck, drawing a penalty shot in Nieto's first game with the Avalanche.
Greiss was aggressive, coming way out to force Nieto into a wrist shot that the Islanders goaltender snared. It was the second penalty shot Greiss has stopped this season and fourth in four attempts in his Islanders career, including a Game 5 overtime stop on Aleksandr Barkov against the Panthers last spring.
