Avalanche’s MacKinnon scores overtime winner over New York Islanders

Nathan MacKinnon scored 32 seconds into overtime and the Avalanche fended off the pesky New York Islanders 5-4 for its fifth win in six outings Tuesday night at Ball Arena. MacKinnon’s goal came after Valeri Nichushkin drew a penalty late in regulation, and was his third point of the game. Nichushkin brought the Avalanche back from a deficit for the third time with a third-period power-play goal.

Cale Makar’s stick exploded on a one-timer from the top of the zone, but the puck went right to MacKinnon at the side of the net. He bumped it to Nichushkin, who turned it into an unorthodox tic-tac-toe tally and his second goal of the night with 7:39 remaining. Jonathan Drouin has helped the over the past few weeks, and now he’s finding his way on the first line as well.

Drouin helped set up Colorado’s second goal in this game, which occurred four seconds after a power play expired. Nichushkin batted the puck across the goal line after a scrambled play in front. Samuel Girard had the first shot after Drouin set him up.

It was Girard’s first point in his second game after time in the NHL/NHLPA Players Assistance Program. The first goal from Nichushkin made it 3-2 Islanders, and then Drouin’s tally evened the score momentarily. Drouin started the play in the defensive zone with a pass to MacKinnon.

He carried it into the offensive zone, sent the puck to Mikko Rantanen and he hit Drouin trailing on the play with a wicked half slap-shot. Drouin has 10 points in his past 10 games. Beyond the production, the skill and smarts that made him an elite prospect and productive player in his early NHL days are showing up more frequently.

It would be a big deal for the Avs if Drouin can continue to play well as Artturi Lehkonen gets closer to returning in the next few weeks. This day began with Avs coach Jared Bednar praising his starting goaltender’s play of late, but it was . Two of the goals came with no defensive help and a third went off a teammate in front of him.

That said, the Islanders also entered the third period having created 0. 96 expected goals and 17 shots on goal, but with four on the scoreboard. The Avalanche played a strong first period, save for a couple of breakdowns that left Colorado trailing at the intermission.

Both Islanders goals came when a New York player got behind the home side’s defenses. Colorado had tilted the ice in its favor for a couple of shifts before the first one. Girard whiffed on a shot from near the top of the left circle, then Pierre Engvall slipped behind him on the counterattack and scored.

Devon Toews erased the lead 32 seconds later against his former team. Makar danced his way into the offensive zone, then Logan O’Connor sent the puck from below the goal line out to the top of the zone for a wrist shot from Toews with plenty of traffic in front. The Avs had a 16-8 advantage in shots on goal and an even more pronounced lead in shot attempts (38-16) after 20 minutes, but the Isles grabbed the lead with 32 seconds left.

MacKinnon got tangled up with Scott Mayfield away from the play and took a penalty. Brock Nelson scored 15 seconds later when he split Makar and Toews at the blue line and went in alone on Georgiev. Simon Holmstrom made it 3-1 just 1:09 into the second period with a long-range shot that seemed to fool Georgiev.

The fourth Isles goal was a fluky one — a shot by Alexander Romanov from the left point hit Jack Johnson’s skate and changed directions. .