Penguins blow early lead, fall 5-2 to Avalanche
Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust scored 29 seconds apart, but Colorado answered with five consecutive goals as Pittsburgh dropped its fifth game in six tries.
PenguinsPittsburgh (3-4-1, 1-3-1 away) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Colorado Avalanche scored the next five goals for a 5-2 win at Ball Arena. The Penguins have lost five of their last six games. The schedule does not get any easier on their West Coast road trip. They play two of the top three teams. Their next game is against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Then they complete the road trip against the Utah Mammoth on Monday, October 19, at 9 p.m. ET. Read more: Penguins blow early lead, fall 5-2 to Avalanche.
A fast start
The game started the exact opposite of their loss in Chicago. The Penguins took control in the first period, scoring back-to-back goals eight minutes into the period. Evgeni Malkin scored his fourth goal of the season 8:28 into the first period. Ville Koivunen and Erik Karlsson assisted on the goal.
Twenty-nine seconds later, Bryan Rust finished a 2-on-1 with Sidney Crosby to make it 2-0.
Related: Penguins acquire defenseman Ryan Johnson from Buffalo
The assist was the 1,110th of Crosby’s career. It moved him past Joe Thornton into sole possession of seventh place on the NHL’s all-time list.
The Penguins outshot the Avalanche, 13-3, at one point in the first period, but Artturi Lehkonen cut the lead to 2-1, 11 minutes in, with Nathan MacKinnon setting him up.
The second period slips away
Colorado took over after intermission. Lehkonen tied the game 25 seconds into the second period. MacKinnon and Martin Necas assisted the goal.
“We got a great start,” Sidney Crosby said after the game. “We knew they were going to push, and we just didn’t hold that push enough.”
The Penguins did not respond to Colorado’s push and lost control after a solid first period.
Karlsson was called for hooking MacKinnon on a breakaway four minutes into the period. MacKinnon’s penalty shot was saved by Arturs Silovs, but Gabriel Landeskog scored 15 seconds later off a feed from Brock Nelson. That goal gave Colorado a 3-2 lead.
T.J. Hughes made it 4-2 with his first NHL goal, just after the Colorado power play ended. Cale Makar and MacKinnon assisted on the goal, MacKinnon’s third assist of the game.
No answer in the third
Pittsburgh could not find a way back against Mackenzie Blackwood, who made 29 saves and stopped all 22 shots he faced over the final 51 minutes. MacKinnon put it away with a power-play one-timer 15 minutes into the final period.
The power play was a problem again. Pittsburgh went 0-for-3 with the man advantage, while Colorado went 1-for-4. Silovs made 27 saves on 32 shots.
Head coach Dan Muse pointed to consistency after the game, saying the Penguins played well early but could not sustain it for 60 minutes.
Forward Egor Chinakhov did not play after suffering a lower-body injury in practice Thursday.
Up next
The Penguins finish their back-to-back Saturday night in Vegas against the Golden Knights. Puck drops at 10 p.m. ET at T-Mobile Arena.
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Trent Conner is a skilled writer with years of experience covering various sports. Based in West Virginia, he provides insightful analysis and expert predictions, with a focus on West Virginia University athletics. Trent stays on top of the latest trends and is passionate about delivering engaging and informative sports content.
This column was written by Trent Conner. It was fact-checked and copy edited by the Disruptor Sports desk working with Claude, a generative AI model made by Anthropic. How our newsroom works.
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