Avalanche Pick Up Point in 2-1 Overtime Loss to Penguins

Picked up a point.
The Colorado Avalanche picked up a point, but dropped a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena as they opened up a three-game road trip. Colorado is now 27-18-4 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon scored the sole goal. Bowen Byram returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 4 (was out with a lower-body injury), while Valeri Nichushkin drew in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 24 after being out with an upper-body injury.
In Colorado's net, Pavel Francouz turned aside 36 of the 38 shots he faced. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the ninth-straight game.
For the Penguins, Kris Letang scored the overtime winner, while Bryan Rust found the back of the net in regulation. Evgeni Malkin handed out two assists. Between the pipes, Casey DeSmith made 41 saves on 42 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

The Avalanche and Pens skated out to a 0-0 first period in what was a relatively low-event frame, but skewed in favor of Colorado who outshot Pittsburgh 8-0 through the first 12 minutes. While the Avalanche couldn't beat DeSmith in the opening period, they generated some promising looks including a shot that wrung off the crossbar from MacKinnon at the midway mark.
Colorado continued to push and capitalized midway through the second period to produce the game's icebreaker and take a 1-0 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
The Avalanche's goal unfolded on a sequence of four-on-four hockey. They were first on the penalty kill as Artturi Lehkonen was called for slashing at 9:11, but at 10:09 Pittsburgh winger Jake Guentzel was assessed with hooking.
Early into the four-on-four hockey, MacKinnon grabbed a pass from Byram at the right faceoff circle, skated behind the net, curled around and charged into the high slot where he wired a shot above DeSmith's left shoulder to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 10:21.

Pittsburgh pushed in the third period - as they outshot the Avs 18-10 - and were rewarded late in the frame to tie the score with an equalizer from Rust that sent the game into overtime.
Francouz abandoned his crease to try and poke a puck away from Jason Zucker outside the right faceoff circle, but Zucker held on possession of the puck and centered the puck to the net. It skipped to the backdoor where Malkin tossed it straight to the net front and Rust tapped it past the sticks of Makar and Compher and past Toews - who was trying to defend the goal line - to tie the score 1-1 at 16:22.
In overtime, the Penguins had seemingly scored on a combo from Sidney Crosby to Letang as Francouz slid back into his crease. Upon review, it was deemed that the puck didn't cross the goal line and there was no goal.
The Avalanche then received a power play at 1:21 as Malkin was called for tripping, but Colorado's extra-man unit was unable to convert on the four-on-three.
Following the big penalty kill, the Penguins' three horsemen of Crosby, Malkin and Letang went to work. Letang curled around the net and centered the puck to the slot where Malkin paced it straight to Crosby. The Pittsburgh captain fired a shot on net, but Francouz made the stop and the rebound bounced out to the point where Letang corralled it and redirected it back on net. Frnacouz made another stop, but Malkin one-timed the rebound on net and a scrum ensued as bodies toppled over in the blue paint. Crosby secured possession of the puck, skated behind the net and sent a pass from the hash marks to the left faceoff circle for Letang to wire a sizzling wrister past Francouz to seal the two-point comeback victory for the Penguins.

NOTEWORTHY:

• MacKinnon buried his 14th goal of the season and extended his point streak to four games where he's collected as many points (1G, 3A).
• Byram returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 4 after being sidelined with a lower-body injury. The 21-year-old blueliner totaled 21:29 minutes (1:28 on the power play), recorded an assist on MacKinnon's goal, threw three hits and blocked three shots.
• Nichushkin drew back in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 24 after being out with an upper-body injury. The Russian winger totaled 22:03 minutes (5:37 minutes on the power play), fired off three shots, and threw one hit.
• Rodrigues faced his former club for the first time. The winger played with the Penguins from 2019-22.
• Francouz made his 15th start of the season and improved his record to 7-7-1.
• Colorado finished the game 0-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
• Darren Helm (lower body) and Andreas Englund were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche continue their three-game road trip as they travel to Tampa Bay next, marking the first time since their Game 6 victory last June to claim their third Stanley Cup in franchise history. The puck drops between the Avs and Lightning on Thursday night at 5:00 p.m. MT.