Preview: Avs look to close out road trip on a high note on Long Island

After what has certainly been a hectic weekend and road trip for the Colorado Avalanche, they’ll take on the New York Islanders tonight before heading back home. This will be the second and final regular-season matchup between these two teams, with the Islanders winning the first game by a final score of 6-2.

Colorado Avalanche

As previously mentioned, this past weekend and road trip have been nothing short of hectic for this Avalanche team. On Friday evening, the team traded for Mikko Rantanen. In that trade, the Avs also welcomed Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the team, both of whom scored points on Sunday.

Colorado comes into this game off of a thrilling win over the New York Rangers, which saw Artturi Lehkonen end the game for the Avs in regulation with just seconds left in the third period. They’ll need to give that same effort here tonight against the Isles.

Projected Lineup

Jonathan Drouin - Nathan MacKinnon - Martin Necas
Juuso Parssinen - Casey Mittelstadt - Artturi Lehkonen
Ross Colton - Jack Drury - Miles Wood
Joel Kiviranta - Parker Kelly - Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Samuel Girard - Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton - Sam Malinski

New York Islanders

The Isles are hot right now, as they’re currently riding a four-game win streak, with their most recent victory being against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite being seventh in the Metropolitan Division, the Eastern Conference playoffs race is so tight that the Isles are still technically in the mix with other teams. If they want to make a genuine push and make the playoffs this year, they need to keep winning games right now to keep pace with all the other teams trying to make it in.

Projected Lineup

Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Anthony Duclair - Brock Nelson - Kyle Pulmieri
Casey Cizikas - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Simon Holmstrom
Maxim Tsyplakov - Kyle Maclean - Marc Gatcomb

Adam Pelech - Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov - Tony DeAngelo
Isaiah George - Dennis Cholowsky

Goaltenders

Tonight, it will likely be Mackenzie Blackwood against Ilya Sorokin. Blackwood played well for the Avs on Sunday against the Rangers. He’ll need to be sharp again tonight to help the Avs secure another two points and end the road trip on a high note.