Evan Rodrigues strikes in shootout as Avalanche clip Islanders

Evan Rodrigues scored the only goal in a shootout to back a 26-save effort from Alexandar Georgiev, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Islanders 1-0 in Denver on Monday night.

Georgiev notched his second shutout of the season and 10th of his career. He made a pad save on Mathew Barzal in the shootout.

Mikko Rantanen had a career-high 10 shots on goal for Colorado, which improved to 3-1 on its five-game homestand.

Ilya Sorokin turned away 46 shots through overtime, but Rodrigues beat him with a backhander on Colorado's first attempt in the shootout.

The Islanders won the first meeting, 5-4, in Elmont, N.Y., on Oct. 29.

New York goaltender Semyon Varlamov was scratched with a lower-body injury suffered in the third period of a 5-2 win at Vegas on Saturday night. He is considered day to day, according to the team.

Cory Schneider was recalled to serve as Sorokin's backup.

Both teams had chances in the first period, but neither could break through. The Islanders had the only power play and managed two shots while the Avalanche looked like they were going to score on a late advantage when Barzal got his stick up on Cale Makar, and he hit the ice.

Makar appeared to signal to the referee that it wasn't a penalty and Barzal stayed out of the box.

The action picked up in the second period when Colorado started to carry the play. Two power-play chances didn't produce a goal, but it gave the Avalanche momentum. Colorado's best chance to score came when Devon Toews came in alone on Sorokin, but Sorokin made the save to keep it scoreless.

The Avalanche kept pressing to start the third period, getting seven of the first nine shots on goal, and had their best chance to strike midway through the frame. Valeri Nichushkin picked up the puck at the New York blueline and blasted a shot that Sorokin saved, and moments later he made another save on Rodrigues.