Avs Overcome Plucky Penguins, 4-1

In a battle of the Avs versus the ‘av’ nots, Colorado overcame a plucky, determined Penguins squad to prevail, 4-1, last night at Ball Arena.

The game was much tighter than the final outcome would indicate. Indeed, the Pens more than held their own against their talented hosts for the better part of 56 minutes.

Following a scoreless opening frame, the Avs grabbed the lead at 6:36 of the second period on a goal by Artturi Lehkonen from the low slot, courtesy of a crisp feed off the end boards by Nathan MacKinnon.

Our Pens refused to knuckle under. With just over two minutes remaining in the period, Sidney Crosby scooped up a loose puck into the neutral zone and cruised down the right side of the Avs’ zone. Spying Bryan Rust on the opposite side, Sid slipped a perfect seam pass to his linemate in the left circle. Rusty wasted no time in threading a touch pass through the wickets of defenseman Oliver Kylington to Rickard Rakell at the back door. RikRak steered the puck home for his 29^th goal of the campaign.

Tic-tac-toe and the score was knotted at 1-apiece.

The Pens continued to battle the Avs tooth-and-nail in the third period. However, Anthony Beauvillier, who otherwise played a terrific game, was whistled for tripping at 14:23. MacKinnon fed Val Nichushkin to the left of the Pens’ cage. Instead of shooting, the big Russian had the presence of mind to slip the biscuit cross-crease to Casey Mittlestadt, who banged it home.

The Avs tacked on a pair of empty-netters for the final margin of victory.

Puckpourri

Absolutely no shame in this loss, or the Pens’ collective effort. They competed hard and gave everything they had…and then some. At this stage, that’s all you can ask.

Alex Nedeljkovic turned in his second-straight solid effort between the pipes, with 21 saves on 23 shots (a .913 save percentage). Recently recalled Tristan Jarry served as backup.

It’ll be interesting to see how coach Mike Sullivan deploys his goalies down the stretch. And, more to the point, how much of an opportunity he’ll afford Jarry to redeem himself.

With Pierre-Olivier Joseph going on IR, Vladislav Kolyachonok made his black-and-gold debut. Skating on the third pairing beside Vincent Desharnais, the Belarus defender registered two shots on goal, plus a hit and a blocked shot in a sheltered 11:34 of ice time. To my eye, the newcomer made smart decisions with the puck and displayed good mobility.

My word, is the Avs’ top five of MacKinnon, Lehkonen, Martin Necas, Cale Makar and Devon Toews imposing! Talk about an absolutely lethal combo of skill and speed. Scary good.

Interesting that the Avs are riding the goaltending duo of Scott Wedgewood (last night’s starter) and Mackenzie Blackwood. The pair washed out in New Jersey back when the Devils were rebuilding. Goes to show what a difference having a good team in front of you can make.

I would think there would be few more difficult tasks in all of sports than tending goal behind a defensively porous team. Move out to challenge shooters as you’re instructed to do, and your back door is exposed. Sit back in your net, and you get picked clean. Sheesh!

With Friday’s trade deadline fast approaching, this could be the last game sporting the Penguins’ crest for a number of players, including Erik Karlsson, Rakell and UFAs-to-be Beauvillier and Matt Grzelcyk.

Personally, I don’t expect Kyle Dubas to be all that active. (In other words, buckle your seat belts and hold on tight…lol.)

The Pens have scored the first goal in a game just once (during a 5-3 loss to the Rangers on February 23) since our 3-0 victory over the Predators on February 1. Small wonder we’re 2-6-2 during that span.

Since a 3-2 victory over the Rangers on February 7, we’ve been in negative overdrive with a record of 1-6-1. Remarkably, we’re still only eight points out of a wild-card spot.

In the race that really matters, we have the sixth-fewest points (58) in the league, two ahead of Seattle. If we continue our losing ways, and there’s every reason to suspect we will, we could conceivably fall below the Kraken and Sabres and nab the fourth slot from the bottom. In the process improving our chances of drafting an impact player.