Things could have gotten away from the Colorado Avalanche in the first period Friday night. The Pittsburgh Penguins attacked, outshot and outscored the Avs, but Colorado escaped the opening 20 minutes trailing by just one goal. The Avalanche flipped the script in the second period and went on to defeat the Penguins 5-2 at Ball Arena, improving to 5-2-1 on the season.
Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, while Gabriel Landeskog, T.J. Hughes and Nathan MacKinnon each added a goal. MacKinnon and Martin Necas had three assists apiece, while Cale Makar recorded two.
All five of Colorado’s goals came after Pittsburgh jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Trailing 2-1 after the first period, the Avalanche responded with a goal on their first shift of the second before adding another to get ahead and never looking back.
“It goes like that sometimes,” Mackenzie Blackwood said. “Sometimes [the team] is better than me and sometimes vice versa. It’s all about trying to have each other’s backs and weathering it until we have our legs under us.”
Lehkonen, who had already scored once, tied the game at 2-2. MacKinnon put a shot on goal that was stopped by goalie Arturs Silovs and deflected into the air. Lehkonen tracked the puck as it came down, gloved it, dropped it into the crease and shoveled it past Silovs for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
“I’m not surprised, I see it in practice all the time,” Blackwood said. “[Lehkonen] does it in practice all the time. It’s not surprising to me, but I’m sure to a lot of people it is.”
The Avalanche kept pressing, and a MacKinnon breakaway led to a rare and exciting penalty shot for Colorado’s top center. Silovs made the stop, but just 15 seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Landeskog put home his third goal of the season. The captain finished off a play that began with a Nazem Kadri shot and a rebound feed from Brock Nelson.
Colorado carried its one-goal lead for most of the period and continued to apply pressure. The Avs recorded 10 shots in the first 10:22 of the period and had all the momentum. Just past the halfway mark, Landeskog was called for interference. The ensuing power play lasted 69 seconds before Nelson drew a slashing penalty, creating a 4-on-4 situation.
After Landeskog exited the penalty box, the Avs failed to score on their brief power play. But just four seconds after Ben Kindel left the box, Hughes scored from in front of the net off a feed from MacKinnon to give Colorado a two-goal lead.
“It felt really good. It was a big goal, big time of the game,” Hughes said. “Nate gave me a great pass. I think the power play just expired, but power play was good, we’re moving it around, and Nate just made a great play to be able to score.”
Blackwood, who allowed two goals on Pittsburgh’s first 10 shots, finished with 29 saves. He stopped all 22 shots he faced over the final 51:03 to earn his fourth win in six starts.
“You have to find a way to stay with the game and just keep making the next save,” Blackwood said. “I thought we did a better job of protecting the house a lot better as the game went on.”
For as tight-checking and defensive as Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars was, the Avalanche and Penguins played run-and-gun hockey in the first period. It was entertaining, but the defending, particularly on Colorado’s side, left plenty to be desired.
“We were just like, cruising around and hoping something was gonna happen,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “There was another gear of intensity we needed to get to … we’re having a tough time right now putting together a full 60.”
Pittsburgh had the advantage in shots and scoring chances early, something that isn’t often the case at Ball Arena. Eventually, the Penguins broke through on an exceptional play by 40-year-old Evgeni Malkin.
Malkin took a nice pass from Ville Koivunen and sped into the offensive zone. At the circle, he stopped and cut toward the middle of the ice to evade Fedor Svechkov before firing a shot far side past Blackwood while falling to the ice.
Malkin’s fourth goal of the season came on Pittsburgh’s seventh shot, just 8:28 into the opening frame. The Penguins didn’t have to wait nearly as long to score again. Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust came in on a 2-on-1 against Josh Manson, who stumbled while trying to turn. Crosby found Rust at the back door, and Rust doubled Pittsburgh’s lead just 29 seconds later.
It was all Pittsburgh from there for a stretch. The Penguins continued to cycle in the offensive zone, beat the Avs to loose pucks and nearly scored a third goal on two separate occasions. Moments later, towering forward Elmer Soderblom fended off Lehkonen along the half wall for several seconds before Lehkonen eventually poked the puck away.
Necas picked up the loose puck and fed MacKinnon at center ice as the superstar center began to build speed. MacKinnon sent a pass across the ice to Lehkonen, who was crashing the net and got his stick on the puck for his fifth goal of the season at 11:01. In a matter of moments, the game went from nearly 3-0 to 2-1.
The Avalanche, who had been outshot 13-3, suddenly had life.
Colorado got its first power play a few minutes later, marking the first man advantage of the Brett McLean era. The Avs generated two good looks but were stopped by Silovs. Pittsburgh also got a power play in the first period but failed to capitalize.
The Penguins took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission with a 14-5 advantage in shots. All things considered, Colorado was fortunate to be down by just one.
Good: Hughes Gets His First
It took eight games for Hughes to score his first career NHL goal, but it was a beauty. Despite his smaller frame, Hughes planted himself in front of the net and put his stick on the ice to signal for MacKinnon’s pass. He stayed strong on his stick and dropped to a knee as he finished the play.
Not many players make the jump from college hockey to scoring an NHL goal with assists from MacKinnon and Makar.
Bad: Shaky Start
The first period was a problem. Had it not been for a few big saves from Blackwood and a strong play by MacKinnon’s line to swing the momentum back toward Colorado, the game could have gotten away from the Avalanche quickly.
Fortunately, they weathered the storm and bounced back. But for a stretch, it felt like the Avalanche might be in for a repeat of the 7-2 beatdown the Penguins handed them at Ball Arena last March.
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