Colorado's win streak was snapped at six games as the team suffered a 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
The first period - while scoreless - featured riveting end-to-end action and solid netminding from both teams, who each put up 10 shots on goal.
Late in the opening frame with just over five minutes left before intermission - MacKinnon whirled into the slot with his dazzling stickhandling and fired off a wrist shot that struck the crossbar, but the puck fell directly behind Jarry - who managed to prevent the puck from crossing the goal line.
Colorado received its first power play of the game with 1:44 left in the period, but was unable to convert. Conversely, the Penguins buoyed themselves up to a 3-1 lead by the end of the second period as they buried two power-play goals and an early strike from Crosby as well as put up 21 shots compared to the Avalanche's nine.
After killing off the remaining 16 seconds that carried over from Rust's first-period penalty, Pittsburgh didn't waste any time in drawing the game's icebreaker on Crosby's highlight-reel goal, which marked his 30th of this year's campaign.
The Pittsburgh captain took a pass from Guentzel in the neutral zone, attacked the open space, deked past Samuel Girard and unleashed his signature backhander on net where the puck sailed to the far side past Georgiev at 1:11.
After killing off the penalty, Crosby takes a pass from Guentzel in the neutral zone - toe drags past Jarry and unleashed his signature backhand to the far post to beat Georgiev and give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 1:11.
Shortly after, the Penguins doubled their lead as they converted on a 5-on-3. Pittsburgh received its first power play of the game at 2:50 as Kurtis MacDermid was whistled for cross-checking. Under a minute into the kill, Andrew Cogliano was assessed with holding and joined MacDermid in the box.
Evgeni Malkin won the puck along the endboards and fed it to the net front for Guentzel. The winger's initial attempt deflected off Georgiev and popped up into the air where Guentzel then batted the puck into the net at 4:06.
The Penguins revved off the momentum from their two quick strikes and were outshooting the Avalanche through 9-2, but Georgiev made some solid stops to help keep them from furthering their lead including a sensational smother on a two-on-one rush between Crosby and Jason Zucker.
The Avalanche were able to manage the Penguins' push and secure a goal of their own at 11:35 on a pesky effort. Alex Newhook forechecked Kris Letang in the Pittsburgh zone behind the net. As the puck sprung free, Valeri Nichushkin curled behind the cage, grabbed the loose puck and sent it to the low slot for Compher where the centerman put it past Jarry's glove to trim Colorado's deficit down 2-1.
