Sound defense has been a hallmark of the success the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins have enjoyed.

Odd-man rushes or second-chance rebounds have largely been stifled through an adherence to a sound defensive scheme during five-on-five play or even while on the penalty kill over the first five-plus months of the season.

But as of late, the Penguins have been perforated like a train ticket by the opposition.

That trend continued against the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche, in a 6-2 loss at PPG Paints Arena.

It marked the fourth consecutive game the Penguins have allowed four or more goals. They are 1-2-1 over that span.

“It’s not one thing,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said of his team’s porous defense. “That’s not how I see it.

“I’m not going to sit up here and go through all of them. It’s not one specific thing.”

Whatever the tabulation of those things may be, it added up to a half-dozen goals, five of which were put behind rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs, who stopped 24 of 29 shots as his record fell to 16-10-8.

Team officials declined to make Silovs available after the game.

His teammates who did speak largely suggested this game wasn’t as poor of a performance as some of their recent losses, particularly a 5-1 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

“I don’t think we played a bad game today,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “We just played a much better team unfortunately. They were very opportunistic, just like when we played them in Colorado. Today, I don’t think the score reflected the way we played.

“Yeah, they’re a good team. They’re going to create a lot of chances. They did today.”

With forward Evgeni Malkin scratched because of an undisclosed injury, the Penguins (35-20-16) slipped behind the Columbus Blue Jackets (38-22-11, 87 points), who moved into second place of the Metropolitan Division.

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL’s other superstar from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, opened the scoring 4:57 into regulation with a dazzling individual effort that led to his league-leading 46th goal of the season.

Settling a puck above Colorado’s left circle, Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon retreated to the blue line but lost possession while being harassed by MacKinnon. Poking the puck away from Wotherspoon, MacKinnon hustled his way through the neutral zone, entered the Penguins’ zone and attacked the net as Wotherspoon struggled to keep up. Upon arrival, MacKinnon fired a wrister past Silovs’ glove. There were no assists.

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Penguins forward Egor Chinakhov tied the game at 8:09 of the first frame with his 17th goal, a new career high.

Accepting the puck at the right point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang slid it across the ice to defenseman Sam Girard. Drifting a bit toward the left boards, Girard moved the puck to the center point where Chinakhov wound up and chopped a one-timer past goaltender Scott Wedgewood’s blocker. Assists went to Letang (his 800th career point) and Girard (his 200th career assist).

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The Avalanche responded with a hiccup-quick outburst of three goals over a span of 115 seconds to go up by a field goal.

Defenseman Sam Malinski struck first with his fourth goal at the 15:24 mark.

After Avalanche forward Brock Nelson lost possession of the puck on the left wall of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Anthony Mantha wound up directing it to the right point, where Malinski scooped it in, then pumped a wrister through traffic, past Silovs’ blocker, then off the left post and into the cage. There were no assists.

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Then at the 16:44 mark, forward Martin Necas found his 33rd goal during a power-play sequence.

Nelson cleanly beat Penguins rookie forward Ben Kindel on a draw in Pittsburgh’s left circle and swept the puck back to the near point for defenseman Cale Makar. Gathering the puck, Makar sashayed his way to the high slot, then fed it back to the left circle where Necas leaned down on his right knee and stroked a one-timer to the near side past a scrambling Silovs’ blocker. Makar and Nelson negotiated assists.

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That was followed by forward Parker Kelly’s 16th goal at the 17:19 mark.

Beating Girard in a race to a loose puck in the Penguins’ left corner, Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri rimmed it along the end boards behind the cage for linemate Logan O’Connor. As Penguins forward Rickard Rakell tried to close ground, O’Connor slipped a pass past the left side of the cage to the lower left circle, where an unimpeded Kelly leaned down to lift a pinpoint wrister past Silovs’ left shoulder on the far side. O’Connor and Kadri claimed assists.

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Penguins forward Justin Brazeau appeared to score a goal at 7:38 of the second period as he cleaned up a rebound during a furious goalmouth scramble. But the Avalanche issued a coach’s challenge, claiming goaltender interference.

Following the review, the officials euthanized the score, much to the disdain of the Penguins, who have been denied on all eight coach’s challenges they have issued for goaltender interference this season.

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The league issued a statement explaining the decision to overturn the goal.

“Video review determined Pittsburgh’s Justin Brazeau contacted Scott Wedgewood in the crease and impaired his ability to play his position prior to the goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1, which states in part, ‘Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.’”

After the game, Karlsson was asked, plainly, ‘What is goaltender interference?”

“I don’t really know,” Karlsson said with a smirk. “I’m glad that I’m not in charge of that or have any say whatsoever in how that works because I don’t think I would do a very good job either.”

Necas found the net again at 17:29 of the middle period.

Following another faceoff win in the Penguins’ left circle by Nelson against Crosby, Malinkski settled the puck on the wall at the near point, then centered the puck to defensive partner Devon Toews, who cranked a one-timer on net from the blue line. Silovs made the initial save with his right leg but allowed a rebound to pinball toward the lower left hashmark, where Necas established position on Crosby and whipped a wrister past Silovs’ glove. Assists were tallied by Toews and Malinski.

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Penguins forward Rickard Rakell registered his 15th goal at 11:47 of the third period.

Trying to play a dumped-in puck out of danger off his end boards, Makar absorbed a hit from forechecking Penguins forward Bryan Rust and the puck fluttered over the cage and Wedgewood and landed in the crease. Crosby alertly stopped the puck with his right skate and slid a tidy short-area pass to his right where Rakell chipped a wrister over Wedgewood’s left leg. Crosby and Rust recorded assists.

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Avalanche forward Ross Colton capped the scoring with his ninth goal on an empty net at 16:20 of the final frame. Forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Jack Drury had assists.

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The Penguins actually had an edge in shots, 32-30. But they felt the quality of chances they surrendered was a bigger issue than the quantity.

“For the majority of games, I think we’re playing well,” Rust said. “But when we do give up chances, they’re really, really good chances. When you’re playing against players in the NHL, they’re probably going to score on a lot of those.”

With a road contest against the Ottawa Senators (38-24-9, 85 points) looming on Thursday – an entanglement that has implication on the postseason aspirations of each squad – the Penguins realize they are in dire need of stiffer play in the defensive zone.

“ We … played a better team than we were today,” Karlsson said. “Our feeling in here is much better than it is after (Sunday’s loss to the Hurricanes), let’s say. We should go into Ottawa on Thursday feeling good about ourselves and knowing that if we keep doing this and just a little bit more consistent from shift to shift, we’re going to have a better outcome than we did tonight.

“But overall, obviously letting in four goals a night, it’s going to be tough to win the majority of the games going that way.”

Notes:

• Chinakhov’s previous career high of 16 goals was established as a member of the Blue Jackets during the 2023-24 season.

• Brazeau has two (legal) goals in his past 18 games.

• In addition to Malkin, Penguins forwards Kevin Hayes and Blake Lizotte were scratched due to undisclosed injuries.

• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves, Ilya Solovyov and Jack St. Ivany were healthy scratches.

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