Avalanche hand Penguins fourth loss in five games

DENVER --Tyson Barrie scored two goals to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 at Pepsi Center on Monday.
J.T. Compher and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Avalanche (16-15-2), who completed a three-game homestand 2-1-0. Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves.

WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Avalanche highlights]
Evgeni Malkin and Chad Ruhwedel scored for the Penguins (17-15-3), who ended a three-game trip 1-2-0 and are 1-4-0 in their past five. Matt Murray made 33 saves.

"We got outplayed," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We got outplayed in the second period badly. I thought they were hungrier than we were. We took penalties, I think we took three or four penalties in the second period. That doesn't help, but we got outplayed. They were better than us."
The Penguins closed to 3-2 at 1:25 of the third period when Malkin scored his 11th goal from a sharp angle in the right circle. Rantanen scored his 10th into an empty net with 1:33 remaining to make it 4-2.
Colorado swept the season series, winning 2-1 in Pittsburgh on Dec. 11.
"We're growing as a team, we're getting better," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. " We did a lot of really good things. We had some get-up-and-go on the offensive side of it. We were skating on the pucks and creating and had lots of pace to our game. We were a dangerous team and played on our toes. I think it just shows we're gradually becoming more consistent at what we're supposed to do."
Compher batted in the rebound of Sven Andrighetto's shot at 18:20 of the second period to put the Avalanche in front 3-1. The goal was Compher's fifth and first in nine games.
"I'm feeling good," Compher said. "I mean, it's nice to get one to go in. It's been a little bit and I've had some chances but I've gotten some more ice time recently and I'm just trying to take full advantage of it."
Barrie's second goal of the game, and fourth of the season, came on a power play at 5:56 of the second period and gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. Rantanen passed to Barrie just inside the blue line for a shot past Murray, who was screened by Colorado's Carl Soderberg.

Pittsburgh killed its previous 23 penalties covering eight games.
"I didn't even see it, I'm not sure how it got through," said Barrie, who has six points (two goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak. "Carl was screening, so I thought he might have got it."
Barrie gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 5:04 of the first period with a shot from the top of the circles after he took a pass from Matt Nieto. The goal was Barrie's first in 27 games.
"I tried to jump in the play, Nieto made a nice play to me," Barrie said. "I saw a little lane and tried to shoot it and it found the top corner."
Said Murray: "I picked it up by the time it was a couple of feet in front of me, I just wasn't able to react quick enough. He put a pretty good shot on it. I watched the replay and I thought I was in pretty good position."
The Penguins tied it 1-1 at 10:39 on Ruhwedel's first goal, his third in 94 NHL games. Carter Rowney won a face-off in the right circle and drew the puck off the boards to Ruhwedel, whose shot trickled in behind Varlamov.

Goal of the game

Compher's goal on a rebound at 18:20 of the second period.

Save of the game

Varlamov's save on a Phil Kessel breakaway at 7:31 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Malkin's goal from a tough angle at 1:25 of the third period.

They said it

"You can't replace E.J. It'll be nice to get him back here after another game. Everyone's got to step up and do the best they can and try and pick up the slack."-- Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie, on defenseman Erik Johnson, who served the first of a two-game suspension for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov on Saturday
"Tyson was outstanding. I loved the way he was shooting the puck. Every time the puck got on his hands at the blue line and on the rush he was getting his body around it and getting it back to the net." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"You can see we did not play great. We tried, but not [for] 60 minutes. It's not working anymore. In the first period we had [18] shots but one goal. We can't score anymore." -- Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin

Need to know

Penguins forwards Patric Hornqvist (upper body) and Dominik Simon (illness) were scratched. ... The Avalanche killed all three Penguins power plays and have killed 16 straight in the past seven games.

What's next

Penguins:Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, ATTSN-PT, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-W, NHL.TV)