Avalanche 5, Penguins 2: Colorado erases a 2-0 hole behind MacKinnon
Lehkonen scored twice and T.J. Hughes got his first NHL goal as Colorado answered Pittsburgh's fast start with five straight goals.
The Colorado Avalanche were down 2-0 inside nine minutes at Ball Arena on Friday night, and they answered with five unanswered goals to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. The win moved Colorado to 5-2-1 on the season.
Two quick goals, then a swing
Pittsburgh's start was sharp. Evgeni Malkin scored at 8:28 of the first period with a shot from the high slot, and Bryan Rust doubled the lead about 29 seconds later with a shot from the right doorstep off the rush, according to the NHL.com game recap. The Penguins also held a heavy early edge in shots, outshooting Colorado 14-5 in the first period, per Yahoo Sports.
Colorado got back into the game at 11:01, when Artturi Lehkonen finished from the left doorstep off a Nathan MacKinnon assist to make it 2-1. Lehkonen then tied it 25 seconds into the second period, catching the puck in the air, dropping it to his stick and scoring backhand from the doorstep. That was his second of the night and sixth of the season.
The second period decides it
The second period belonged to Colorado, which fired 17 shots to Pittsburgh's 10 (Yahoo Sports). Gabriel Landeskog put the Avalanche ahead 3-2 at 4:24, his third goal of the season, from the right doorstep after Brock Nelson collected a rebound off a Nazem Kadri shot.
At 14:57, T.J. Hughes scored the first goal of his NHL career from the doorstep, finishing a backhand feed from MacKinnon. "Felt really good," Hughes said, according to the NHL.com recap, and he credited MacKinnon for the pass.
MacKinnon seals it
MacKinnon added a power-play one-timer from the left circle at 15:06 of the third period for his sixth goal of the season, making it 5-2. He finished with a goal and three assists. Martin Necas had three assists and Cale Makar two. Colorado's power play was 1-for-4 and its penalty kill went 3-for-3.
In goal, Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves, including stops on Nick Robertson early in the first and on Rickard Rakell on a second-period breakaway, per NHL.com. Pittsburgh's Arturs Silovs stopped 27 of 32 shots.
What it means
For Colorado, the result is a useful example of how quickly a game can turn when the top line and depth scoring arrive together: Lehkonen has now scored in six of the Avalanche's last eight games, according to Yahoo Sports. For Pittsburgh, the first 10 minutes were encouraging, and the rest of the night was not.
The Avalanche open a two-game road trip Monday at the Philadelphia Flyers, who are winless at 0-6-3, with puck drop at 5 p.m. local time.