Facts and Figures: Avalanche top line delivers against Penguins

Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche were too much for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

MacKinnon had four points (one goal, three assists), right wing Mikko Rantanen had two assists and left wing Gabriel Landeskog scored a goal and had an assist to help the Avalanche defeat the Penguins 6-3 at Pepsi Center. It was Colorado's sixth straight win, and extended the Avalanche's point streak to nine games (8-0-1).
MacKinnon and Rantanen extended their simultaneous multipoint game streaks to six. They are the fifth set of teammates in the past 30 years to have simultaneous multiple-point streaks of at least six games, and the first since Alexander Mogilny and Pat LaFontaine of the Buffalo Sabres (six games) from Dec. 31, 1992 through Jan. 10, 1993.

Rantanen leads the NHL with 42 points (10 goals, 32 assists), one ahead of MacKinnon's 41 points (18 goals, 23 assists). They are the sixth set of teammates in the past 20 years to be the first players to reach 40 points in any season.
The Avalanche (15-6-4) led 3-0 before Crosby tied the game by scoring three goals in a span of 5:35, beginning at 19:08 of the second period. It was the 11th regular-season NHL hat trick for Crosby and the first since he scored three goals against the Florida Panthers on March 19, 2017. Mario Lemieux (40) and Evgeni Malkin (12) are the only players in Penguins history with more hat tricks than Crosby.

Matthews returns from injury, powers Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews showed no signs of rust in his return to the Toronto Maple Leafs after missing 14 games with a shoulder injury, scoring two goals and assisting on one by John Tavares to help the Maple Leafs (18-8-0) defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 for their sixth consecutive win at Scotiabank Arena.

The third-year center had his eighth multipoint game in 12 games this season. He is the sixth player since 2005-06 to have at least eight multipoint games in his first 12 games of a season, and the first since Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom had eight in 2011-12. The only player in NHL history to have multiple points in each of his first 12 games from the start of a season was Lemieux with the Penguins in 1992-93.
Toronto forward Mitch Marner had his second straight three-assist game. He's second in the NHL with 30 assists and the second player in Maple Leafs history to reach 30 assists in Toronto's first 26 games, joining Doug Gilmour in 1992-93.
Tavares scored two goals, giving him 17 in 26 games. The only Toronto players outside of the inaugural NHL season who needed fewer games to reach 17 goals were Cully Wilson in 1919-20 (20 goals in 23 games), Gaye Stewart in 1942-43 (18 goals in 20 games) and Dave Andreychuk in 1992-93 (17 goals in 17 games).

Ducks score early, late to defeat Panthers

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Josh Manson scored 15 seconds into the first period and forward Nick Ritchie got the game-winning goal with 1:28 remaining in the third to give the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 victory against the Panthers at BB&T Center. Anaheim has won four of its past five (4-1-0).
Manson's goal was the second-fastest from the start of a game in Ducks history; Paul Kariya scored eight seconds into Anaheim's game at Colorado on March 9, 1997. Manson is the eighth player to score in the first 20 seconds of a game this season.

Ritchie's game-winner was the 13th go-ahead goal in the final two minutes of regulation time this season and first by the Ducks.

Consecutive game streaks continue

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle, Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau and Penguins forward Phil Kessel, who have the top three active consecutive games played streaks, all continued their runs.
Yandle had an assist while skating in his 738th consecutive game, passing St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester for the sixth-longest streak in NHL history. He is 38 games shy of Craig Ramsay, who's fifth with 776 consecutive games played.

Marleau played in his 732nd consecutive game, eighth on the all-time list. His second-period goal against the team he played with for the first 19 seasons of his NHL career made him the 25th player to score against all 31 NHL teams.
Kessel skated in his 716th consecutive game, ninth all-time.