Letang, Penguins defeat Avalanche in OT after tying it late in 3rd

PITTSBURGH -- Kris Letang scored with 1:24 left in overtime after Bryan Rust tied it late in the third period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied for a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Letang scored glove side from the left face-off circle after receiving a pass from Sidney Crosby during a delayed penalty. He has two overtime goals in the past four games, including a 7-6 victory against the Florida Panthers on Jan. 24 when he returned from a lower-body injury.
"It's great for him. It's great for our team," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "I know it's well-chronicled [that] 'Tanger' has had a tough first half in so many different ways. So, when he scores big goals like that, I know it makes him feel good. It makes our whole team feel good. We're certainly thrilled for him for a lot of reasons."

Evgeni Malkin had two assists, and Casey DeSmith made 41 saves for the Penguins (25-16-9), who had lost two in a row and three of their past four games.
Nathan MacKinnon ended a six-game goal drought, and Pavel Francouz made 36 saves for the Avalanche (27-18-4), who have lost two of three following a six-game winning streak.
"All in all, I was really happy with the effort and the 200-foot commitment to our game," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We'll take the point and move on."
Each team played for the first time since Jan. 28.

Rust tied it 1-1 at 16:22 of the third. After Francouz dove to try and poke the puck away, Malkin received a pass from Jason Zucker at the right post before centering the puck that caromed off Rust's skate and the pad of Francouz.
Letang came close to scoring the game-winner for Pittsburgh 25 seconds into overtime by chipping a shot on goal, but video review determined the puck did not cross the line.
"We have a lot of talented players. It's tough, sometimes, to tell them what to do," Letang said. "They see things that a lot of people don't see. But sometimes when you're not able to generate offense, you want to simplify, you want to put the puck at the net, be predictable for your teammate. Sometimes, it's good."
The Avalanche then had a power-play opportunity after Malkin was called for tripping Cale Makar at 1:21. Colorado had three shots on goal and eight shot attempts.
"I thought we did a great job keeping them to the outside," DeSmith said. "They had some one-timers, obviously. But we kept them out of the middle, kind of toward the flanks. Obviously, it's my job to stop those ones, [and] thankfully I did."

MacKinnon gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead during a 4-on-4 at 10:21 of the second period. After taking a pass from Bowen Byram, MacKinnon skated around Penguins defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry and the net before curling into the slot for a wrist shot through traffic.
J.T. Compher had a chance to extend the lead on a one-timer off a backhand pass from Erik Johnson at 7:06 of the third period, but DeSmith slid to his right for the save.
"I liked our game tonight. I thought we checked hard," Bednar said. "We were dangerous on the offensive side of it. I thought their goalie had a really good night, and we didn't shoot the puck well."
NOTES:Letang has 10 overtime goals, becoming the fourth Penguins player to reach the mark, joining Crosby (19), Malkin (13) and Mario Lemieux (11). … MacKinnon extended his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists) and has 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in his past 12 games. … Malkin has 1,198 points (463 goals, 735 assists) in 1,031 NHL games. … Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin had three shots on goal and one hit in 22:03 of ice time after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Byram had one assist, one shot on goal, three hits and three blocked shots in 21:29 after missing 38 games with a lower-body injury. … Pittsburgh forward Kasperi Kapanen had three shots on goal, four hits and two blocked shots in 13:08 after missing five games with a lower-body injury. Forward Josh Archibald had one shot on goal and four hits in 9:53 after missing 18 games with a lower-body injury. … Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard had one assist to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists).