Rantanen has hat trick, 5 points in Avalanche win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each had five points, and the Colorado Avalanche won 6-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Rantanen, playing his 600th NHL game, had three goals and two assists. MacKinnon had one goal and four assists.

“Obviously, the win is the biggest thing,” said Rantanen, whose hat trick was the 10th of his career and third this season. “We got the two points in the standings. I’m glad, obviously, if I can help the team win. Guys were making good plays behind me and finishing plays, so good job by everybody.”

Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen also scored, Devon Toews had two assists, and Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves for the Avalanche (17-13-0), who have won three straight and four of five on a road trip.

“Whenever you can finish off a road trip like this, a long, hard one against good teams, and go 4-1, pretty impressive from our guys,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “More importantly, for me, it’s the way we’re playing and the habits. Kind of putting some things together here.”

Cody Glass and Michael Bunting scored for the Penguins (12-14-4), who have lost two of three after winning their previous four. Tristan Jarry made 21 saves.

“I didn’t think we were as stiff on the puck,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we hung onto pucks more in the offensive zone. I thought we could’ve controlled territory a little bit more and forced them to have to defend us a little bit more.”

MacKinnon put the Avalanche ahead 1-0 on their second shot on goal at 6:31 of the first period, driving through the neutral zone to the left face-off circle for a snap shot and his 10th goal this season.

Rantanen ended a five-game goal drought when he made it 2-0 at 18:22. After Cale Makar tipped the puck away from Kris Letang in the left circle, he slid it to Rantanen who chipped it in off Jarry's right pad.

Rantanen then extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:46 of the second period by dropping to one knee for a one-timer from a sharp angle.

“They’re overall really good players, you know?” Letang said. “MacKinnon has the speed, the skill, the shot. Rantanen has a big presence. He’s really good around the net. It’s tough to knock them off the puck. And then you add Makar, he’s probably one of the top players in the game right now. He just makes the other team look silly.”

Glass cut it to 3-1 at 7:21 on his first goal of the season, a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Evgeni Malkin.

Bunting pulled the Penguins to within 3-2 at 18:53, taking a spinning pass from Erik Karlsson for a wrist shot from the slot.

Nichushkin powered his way to the net around Marcus Pettersson and slipped the puck by the right skate of Jarry, extending the lead to 4-2 at 3:23 of the third period.

Lehkonen made it 5-2 at 12:21 from just above the crease on a pass from Rantanen from behind the net for his fifth goal in seven games.

“I feel like we were right there for the majority of it,” Glass said. “They're very opportunistic, know where each other is going to be. An example was the fifth goal, right in front of the net. So, they're very opportunistic. But we’ve got to do a better job of making sure we're there. We're in the right places, but we're not really there.”

Rantanen completed the hat trick with his team-leading 18th goal, into an empty net at 15:08 for the 6-2 final.

On the goal, MacKinnon collected his fourth assist of the game, which was also his 600th in the NHL.

“It just feels like we’re just solid,” MacKinnon said. “We’ll see. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

NOTES: MacKinnon and Rantanen each had five points in the same game for the second time. MacKinnon had four goals and one assist on Jan. 24, when Rantanen had one goal and four assists in a 6-2 win against the Washington Capitals. ... Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood did not join the Avalanche in Pittsburgh because of an undisclosed illness. He was acquired, along with Givani Smith and a fifth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft, in a trade Monday that sent goalie Alexandar Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a fifth-round pick in 2025 and a second-round pick in 2026 to the San Jose Sharks. ... Penguins forward Philip Tomasino had two shots on goal in 17:20 of ice time in his return from an upper-body injury that kept him out of a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.