Penguins can't keep up with powerful Avalanche

The Penguins aren’t the best team in the NHL.

Far from it.

A quick glance at the standings would confirm that notion.

That observation would also display that the Colorado Avalanche stand as the league’s top outfit this season based on points.

The Penguins got a first-hand account of what the Avalanche is capable of over the course of four days in a rare home-and-home series between nonconference foes.

And for the second consecutive game, they came up short. On Tuesday, the Penguins couldn’t keep up with the powerful Avalanche and lost 6-4 at PPG Paints Arena.

That result came in the aftermath of the Penguins offering a valiant effort in a 3-2 road loss to the Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday.

Much like that setback, the Penguins suggested their effort and method was sound but flawed.

From a possession standpoint, they were safely in the black. According to Natural Stat Trick, they had 55 shots attempts for and only yielded 39 to the visitors.

But breakdowns at consequential junctures were converted into goals by the adroit Avalanche.

“I thought we were pretty good,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “There (were) obviously a few breakdowns there. And when you give a team like that good opportunities – a team with really good players like that – they’re going to make you pay. They were opportunistic. Overall, I thought we were decent. There’s some areas that we need to clean up. But I thought there was a lot of good too.”

The Avalanche had plenty of good in the lineup, even with a handful of their better players such as forwards Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog absent due to injury. Tuesday’s contest, like Saturday’s, provided enough star power in each lineup worthy of viewing by Edwin Hubble.

Particularly by the visitors who officially clinched a playoff berth with the victory.

“We gave up quite a few odd-man rushes,” Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It’s a dangerous team off the rush and they capitalized. We controlled the (offensive) zone play and I think for the most part, controlled a lot of the game. But when you play a team like that that’s lethal off the rush, they’ll take advantage of it. I think we let them do that.”

The Avalanche took a lead only 2:45 into regulation.

Chasing down a dump-in near the Penguins’ right corner, Avalanche forward Andre Burakovsky claimed the puck, fended off Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin and dished a pass to linemate Nathan MacKinnon darting in from the right point. Taking the puck deep to the right of the cage, MacKinnon slipped a forehand pass through defenseman Kris Letang’s skates with the intention of connecting with linemate Mikko Rantanen. Rust spoiled those designs with a dutiful backcheck but inadvertently deflected the puck into his own cage with his stick. MacKinnon was credited with his 23rd goal of the season while Burakovsky, a former Erie Otters star, and Rantanen had assists.

Rust made amends for his miscue quickly after at 5:30 of the first period.

After making a furious entry into the offensive zone near center point, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby offloaded the puck with a backhand pass to the left wall for linemate Jake Guentzel. Reading the sequence, Guentzel one-touched a pass back to center point for defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who wound up and clapped a one-timer on net. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper fought off the shot but booted a rebound to the right circle for Rust, who swept in the charity under MacKinnon’s stick and past Kuemper’s left skate on the near side for his 23rd goal of the season. Pettersson and Guentzel claimed assists.

A two-goal outburst in the second period restored a lead for the Avalanche.

Forward J.T. Compher claimed his 14th goal at the 9:54 mark. Gaining the offensive blue line on the right wing, forward Alex Newhook surged past Pettersson in the right circle and lifted a far side wrister that Jarry fended off with his blocker. The rebound bounced to the slot, where Compher cleaned it up with a forehand shot. Newhook and defenseman Devon Toews tallied assists.

That was followed by another goal from MacKinnon at the 12-minute mark. Corralling a pass in the Penguins’ left corner, Burakovsky fed it to MacKinnon above the left circle. Backpedaling a bit to open up space, MacKinnon utilized Penguins forward Brian Boyle as an unwitting screen and lobbed a wrister past Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Assists went to Burakovsky and Rantanen.

The Penguins pulled back within a goal at 17:43 of the second thanks to a frantic sequence in the Avalanche’s goalmouth that resulted in a rare goal by Rodrigues. Stripping Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson of the puck at the right point near the Penguins’ blue line, Rodrigues generated his own breakaway. Fending off a backcheck from Rantanen, Rodrigues sauntered in from the left wing and pushed an off-balance backhander on net. Kuemper made the initial save but allowed the puck to slide behind him.

Rantanen maintained focus on the sequence and tried to jam the puck into the back of Kuemper’s right skate. Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen crashed in and used his left skate to kick Rantanen’s right leg in hopes of pushing the puck over the goal line. After Dumoulin barged in and tumbled to the ice, Toews clumsily jabbed the puck into own cage while trying to clear it. Rodrigues was credited with his 18th goal of the season and snapped an 11-game skid without a goal. There were no assists.

The third period became a format to pad stats for seemingly everyone but the goaltenders.

The visitors restored a two-goal lead only 61 seconds into the third period. From off the left wing, Toews circled behind the Penguins net and from the right corner, distributed a pass to the right point for Manson, who teed up a slapper through a screen and past Jarry’s blocker on the far side for his fifth goal. Toews and Compher collected assists.

Avalanche forward Darren Helm collected his seventh goal at the 15:03 mark. After Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson fumbled the puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Avalanche forward forward Logan O’Connor pushed it up ice to generate a two-on-one rush against Matheson, who lost his stick in the process. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, O’Connor slipped a pass to the slot for Helm, who attacked the cage and torched Jarry’s blocker. O’Connor had the only assist.

The Penguins pulled Jarry for an extra attacker late and that tactic paid dividends in the form of Guentzel’s 33rd goal at the 18:36 mark.

Settling the puck at the right point of the offensive zone, Letang slid a pass to the left point for forward Evgeni Malkin. Surveying the zone for a moment, Malkin snapped the puck to the left circle where forward Jeff Carter re-directed the puck, which glanced off the hands of Rantanen and fluttered over the crease. With Rantanen completely oblivious to the location of the puck, Guentzel swatted it out of the air with a downward motion to claim a goal. Kuemper protested, claiming Guentzel made contact with a high stick, but officials upheld the score. Carter and Malkin had assists.

An empty net goal by forward Artturi Lehkonen – his 14th – at 19:07 capped the Avalanche’s scoring.

Matheson scored his 11th of the season only 22 seconds later. After Boyle beat Helm on a draw in Colorado’s left circle, Matheson claimed the puck at the left point and immediately chucked a seemingly mundane wrister at the cage that found an avenue through Kuemper’s give hole. Helm appeared to screen Kuemper on the sequence.

Jarry stopped 26 of 31 shots as his record tumbled to 33-16-6.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche (50-14-6) became the first team in the NHL to reach the half-century mark in wins this season thanks to two victories in a handful of days against an opponent that didn’t seem to feel all that defeated after either contest.

“You can take a lot of things from (Tuesday’s) game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I said this in Colorado. It was a good hockey team. It was two good teams competing hard. Tonight, we weren’t as good in some areas.

“There’s a lot of positive things that we can take away as well. Our compete level was high. Our push-back was high. Our resilience was where it needed to be. We generate a fair amount of looks. We didn’t finish on some of them. If we continue to get some of those looks, I’d like to believe some of them are going to go in the net for us.”

Notes:

• Dumoulin took a hooking penalty at 6:04 of the first period. That was his third penalty in the past five games. Over his previous 45 games, Dumoulin had taken only one penalty.

• Matheson established a new career high for goals. His previous best of 10 was established as a member of the Florida Panthers in 2017-18.

• Guentzel (327 points) surpassed forward Joe Mullen (325) for 21st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Carter’s assist was his 800th career point.

• Pettersson returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous two games.

• The Penguins scratched forwards Filip Hallander (healthy), Radim Zohorna (healthy), Jason Zucker (suspected core muscle) and defenseman Mark Friedman (healthy).

• Hallander was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) before the game but was still officially a member of the active NHL roster.

• Furman South, a native of Sewickley and an alumni of the Robert Morris men’s hockey program, was one of the referees.

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