Eurolanche

Avs home to play Isles after good trip

Season series: The New York Islanders scored three goals in the third period and defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Brooklyn on Nov. 30. Ryan Strome had an assist and an empty-net goal; five players scored for New York. Carl Soderberg had two assists for Colorado.

Islanders team scope: New York's 10-game point streak ended Tuesday. Coach Jack Capuano juggled his lines to try to spark some offense, separating John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. Okposo played with Frans Nielsen and Brock Nelson; Tavares skated with Strome and Josh Bailey, and the third line became Anders Lee, Nikolay Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski. Backup goalie Thomas Greiss had a shutout Sunday against the New Jersey Devils and is 9-3-2 with a 2.03 goals-against average. No. 1 goalie Jaroslav Halak allowed four goals on 16 shots Tuesday against the Florida Panthers and is 9-5-3 with a 2.16 goals-against average.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado opens a four-game homestand after sweeping three games on the road against Central Division teams. After playing 20 of its first 32 games on the road, Colorado plays 11 of its next 13 at home. The Avalanche are 4-7-1 at Pepsi Center. "We know we have to be better at home," coach Patrick Roy told the Avalanche website Wednesday. "I think we're going to have to simplify our game in a way that, we can't go out there feeling that we have to impress the crowd; we absolutely have to dominate the games. I think we need to go out there and play a simple hockey game, like we're doing on the road. We don't have to open up the game if we're down by one goal and then give them a second goal. We need to find ways to stay within our structure and make sure we're going to play a smart and composed game.'' Goaltender Semyon Varlamov has won his past four starts, allowing four goals on 128 shots (.969 save percentage).

-- by Colin Stephenson for NHL.com --