Early look The full preview opens on Friday 4 December, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Colorado Avalanche at New York Islanders: game preview

Puck drop7 Dec · 1:00 PM ET
VenueUBS Arena
All-time meetings47 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Thirty points apart last season

Colorado finished last season 1st in the league on 121 points. NY Islanders finished 19th on 91.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 48

Across 47 completed games, Colorado lead the head-to-head 25-18-4.

All-time record25-18-4Colorado's record in the series
Meetings played47This is number 48
2025-26 series—
Last 53-2NY Islanders
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
4 Dec 2025COL 3 – NYI 6——NYI
16 Nov 2025NYI 1 – COL 4——COL
28 Jan 2025COL 2 – NYI 5——NYI
14 Oct 2024NYI 6 – COL 2——NYI
2 Jan 2024NYI 4 – COL 5 OT——COL
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateColoradoNY Islanders
16 Nov 202513-1-5 · 31 pts1st10-7-2 · 22 pts15th
4 Dec 202519-2-6 · 44 pts1st15-10-3 · 33 pts11th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 16 Nov 2025, Colorado were 1st in the league and NY Islanders 15th. By 4 Dec 2025 it was 1st and 11th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Colorado out-attempted NY Islanders 131 to 121

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Colorado Avalanche

131 att · 66 on goal · 7 G · 10.6%
Crease8 att · 0 G
Slot49 att · 4 G
Wing44 att · 2 G
Point26 att · 0 G
Neutral zone4 att · 1 G

New York Islanders

121 att · 71 on goal · 7 G · 9.9%
Crease7 att · 0 G
Slot49 att · 5 G
Wing39 att · 1 G
Point21 att · 0 G
Neutral zone5 att · 1 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Colorado have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

ColoradoNY Islanders
3.16xG for per game2.90
2.55xG against per game3.70
55.4%xG share44.0%
+7.7FinishingGoals minus expected goals+0.3
+0.1GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+4.1

This season: 2 games for Colorado, 3 for NY Islanders. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Colorado

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2744.4%
Power play · 2025-2617.1% · 27th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-27100.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2684.6% · 1st
Faceoffs · 2026-2746.8% · 58/124
Drawn · 2026-279 (4.50/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-276 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

NY Islanders

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2718.2%
Power play · 2025-2616.5% · 30th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2783.3%
Penalty kill · 2025-2680.8% · 10th
Faceoffs · 2026-2749.1% · 81/165
Drawn · 2026-2711 (3.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
88Martin Necas22242.00
10Brayden Schenn31341.33
14Bo Horvat32131.00
53Casey Cizikas31120.67
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Josh Manson21231.50
8Cale Makar21231.50
7Devon Toews20221.00
8Logan Stanley30220.67
3Adam Pelech30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 5 Dec: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 4 Dec: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Colorado crease

COL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 4 Dec

Mackenzie Blackwood.9122 GP · 2-0-0 · GSAx +0.1

No appearances against NY Islanders in the last meetings.

NY Islanders crease

NYI · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 4 Dec

Ilya Sorokin.9682 GP · 1-1-0 · GSAx +4.1
Semyon Varlamov.8641 GP · 0-1-0 · GSAx +0.4

No appearances against Colorado in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.1 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

4 Dec 20259 · COL 3–6 NYI
16 Nov 20255 · NYI 1–4 COL
28 Jan 20257 · COL 2–5 NYI
14 Oct 20248 · NYI 6–2 COL
2 Jan 20249 · NYI 4–5 COL

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Colorado7.002.503.682.48
NY Islanders3.002.332.842.94

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.1Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings7.6Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

6 on the injury lists

Colorado · injuries

Georgii MerkulovUndisclosedIRReturn16 Oct
Logan O'ConnorLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct
Trent MinerUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
Zachary L'HeureuxLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct

NY Islanders · injuries

Alexander RomanovUndisclosedDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Mathew BarzalKneeIRReturn10 Oct
27 Sep · COL

Placed LD Keaton Middleton, LD Wyatt Aamodt, RW/LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and LW Tristen Nielsen on waivers.

27 Sep · COL

Placed D Keaton Middleton, D Wyatt Aamodt, LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and G Mads Sogaard Nielsen on waivers.

25 Sep · COL

Reassigned Ds Domenick Fensore, Saige Weinstein and Christian Wolanin to Colorado (AHL).

27 Sep · NYI

Agreed to terms with LD Logan Stanley on a 1-Year contract worth $1.5M. Placed G Vitek Vanecek on waivers with the intention of sending to Hamilton (AHL)

26 Sep · NYI

Waived Fs Tanner Fritz, Matt Luff and Nathan Chaffee. Waived Fs Dylan Foudy and Hudson Kuefler for the purpose of sending to Hamilton (AHL).

24 Jul 2026 · NYI

Signed F Alex Jefferies to a one-year contract.

Injury report
#43Egor ShilovRound 2 · VictoriavilleC
#74Beckett HamiltonRound 3 · Red DeerC
#126Tobias TvrznikRound 4 · WenatcheeG
#128Axel ElofssonRound 4 · Orebro Jr.D
Full draft

NY Islanders · 2026 draft

See all: NY Islanders · 2026 draft →
#13Malte GustafssonRound 1 · Hv71D
#109Lincoln KuehneRound 4 · Arizona StateD
#141Vladimir DraveckyRound 5 · BrantfordD
#173Artyom MatyukRound 6 · Nizhny Novgorod Jr.C
Full draft

Updated after every final