Isles’ rally falls short against Avs

Cale Makar notched two goals and an assist, Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal to go along with two assists, and the Avalanche held off the Islanders, 5-4, Monday night to snap a two-game skid.

J.T. Compher and Devon Toews also scored for the Avalanche, which led 5-1 midway through the third and ran out the clock on the Isles’ rally. Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog both picked up two assists and Pavel Francouz stopped 32 shots.

Anders Lee scored two power-play goals and picked up an assist, Casey Cizikas and Brock Nelson also scored, and Noah Dobson dished off two assists for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov recorded a season-high 44 saves. but lost his sixth straight.

The Islanders have not won consecutive games since Jan. 18 and 21 — falling to 7-11-2 since.

After scoring three times in the third to rally for a 5-3 victory at home against the Islanders last Tuesday, the Avalanche tallied four times in the first 8

minutes of the third period Monday night after going into the period tied, 1-1.

MacKinnon scored from the right circle for his 18th at 4:06 to give the Avalanche its first lead of the night. Makar assisted on the play, tying Joe Sakic for the franchise record with a helper in 12 straight games.

Compher made it 3-1 with a quick shot from the left circle while falling down off a pass from Alex Newhook at 6:34. Makar notched his second of the night and 20th of the season 1:07 later, and Toews made it 5-1 at 8:27.

Lee backhanded a rebound for his second of the night, 16th of the season, and 200th of his career with 8:02 remaining to pull the Islanders back within three.

Cizikas tapped in a loose puck after Kyle Palmieri’s shot went off the crossbar for his seventh 90 seconds later, and Nelson scored from the left point for his team-leading 21st to pull the Islanders within one with 26.2 seconds to go.