MacKinnon extends streaks, Avalanche rally from down 4 to top Penguins in OT

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 18 games and his home point streak to 34, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from down four to win 5-4 in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ball Arena on Sunday.

MacKinnon has 76 points (28 goals, 48 assists) during his season-opening home streak, which is the second-longest in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky owns the longest at 40 games (Los Angeles Kings, 1988-89).

MacKinnon also has 122 points (44 goals, 78 assists) on the season, passing Joe Sakic (120 points in 1995-96) for the most in a season in Avalanche history. Peter Stastny holds the franchise record with 139 for the Quebec Nordiques in 1981-82.

“This guy's a phenomenal player, right? But that's pretty good company,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “When you're talking about our boss that's had such a phenomenal career, and then you watch what Nate's doing, it just speaks to who Nate is as a player and what he's capable of.”

Jonathan Drouin had two goals, including the overtime winner, and an assist for the Avalanche (46-20-5), who have won nine in a row and lead the Central Division by two points ahead of the Dallas Stars. Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves.

“They came out really good, obviously. I think we were a little shocked, and we were pretty bad ourselves. Just a tough combination,” MacKinnon said. “I thought [Sidney Crosby] showed why he's still the best. He dominated us tonight, especially our line. We had a better third for sure, but [it took] the full team effort. Our depth, the guys we traded for were unreal tonight. Obviously, 'Drou,' I thought, was our best player. So, a full team effort to make a comeback.”

Crosby had a goal and three assists for the Penguins (30-30-10), who have lost three straight and four of five (1-3-1). Alex Nedeljkovic made 21 saves.

“That's one of the most explosive offenses in the League that we played against,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We knew they were going to push back. We competed hard all night.”

Tristan Jarry replaced Nedeljkovic for 10:05 in the third period after a collision with Casey Mittelstadt. Jarry allowed one goal on five shots.

“We played good enough to win that game. I mean, they're a really good hockey team,” Nedeljkovic said. “To hold them to four shots in the first period, to be up 4-0 with four to play in the second period and not come away with two points, it's pretty disappointing.”

Sean Walker started the Avalanche comeback when he made it 4-1 at 16:05 of the second period with a wrist shot from above the right circle through a screen.

The goal came 25 seconds after Pierre-Olivier Joseph extended the lead to 4-0.

Yakov Trenin made it 4-2 at 19:30 of the second with a deflection of Brandon Duhaime’s shot. 

“I think 'Pitt' played really well tonight,” Bednar said. ‘They gave us more than we could handle through at least 30 minutes of that game, and I think it took an exceptional effort from our guys tonight to win that hockey game. It took our whole roster, our depth, like everybody involved in it.”

Drouin cut the lead to 4-3 at 3:32 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer from the right face-off dot off a cross-ice pass from MacKinnon.

MacKinnon then tied the game 4-4 at 15:22 of the third, scoring short side with a one-timer from the left face-off dot off a cross-ice pass from Drouin.

“I think you guys see it in the morning at practice quite a bit, when we’re making those passes,” Drouin said. “Finally nice to kind of hit one. Hit my spot at the low blocker where I was aiming, and Nate kind of did the same thing. So, we do practice those things.”

Drouin won it 54 seconds into overtime. He beat Kris Letang with speed down the wing and waited out the poke check from Nedeljkovic before lifting in a shot.

“I just saw Letang kind of flat-footed, and I got some speed and Cale [Makar] made great pass at the right time,” Drouin said. “I thought I could beat him wide and beat the goalie, and happily it worked out.”

Jesse Puljujarvi gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 7:53 of the first period when he knocked in a loose puck in the crease. Reilly Smith had deflected Crosby’s backhand shot off and over Georgiev.

Bryan Rust extended the lead to 2-0 at 15:11. He skated around Josh Manson, cut across the crease, and tucked a shot past the pad of Georgiev. Crosby started the play by picking the pocket of Mikko Rantanen in the neutral zone.

“You can see in the first half of the game we played on our toes,” Rust said. “We played in their face, and if we do that, we can be better than any team. I think when we play passive and don’t play in their face, that’s when things go the wrong way.”

Crosby made it 3-0 at 10:47 of the second period, deflecting in a pass from Valtteri Puustinen from the red line at the right side of the net.

“We didn’t keep our feet moving. I think we kind of started watching a little bit,” Penguins forward Lars Eller said. “We gave them an inch and they [took] advantage of every bit of space they got. We didn’t do a good enough job of playing without the puck.”

NOTES: MacKinnon joined Gretzky as the only players in NHL history to have two different point streaks of at least 18 games in the same season. … MacKinnon has an assist in nine straight games. He’s also had an assist in 21 consecutive home games. … MacKinnon has 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) in his 18-game point streak. … Crosby (584 goals) passed Gretzky (583) for the seventh-most goals with a single franchise in NHL history. … Crosby became the first active player and ninth in NHL history to have 14 or more seasons with at least 70 points.