Welcome to the Show, T.J.: Hughes Scores First NHL Goal, Lehkonen Scores Twice as Avalanche Comes Back to Defeat Penguins 5-2

A Night to Remember

T.J. Hughes scored his first-career NHL goal, Artturi Lehkonen tallied twice and Nathan MacKinnon posted four points (1g/3a) to help the Avalanche erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 at Ball Arena on Friday. Additionally, Gabriel Landeskog added a tally, Martin Necas posted three assists and Cale Makar registered two helpers.

On special teams, Colorado's power play went 1/4 and its penalty kill went 3/3.

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 5-2-1.

How It Happened

Blackwood's first save of the night came at 1:50 of the opening frame when he denied Nick Robertson's backhand shot from the right doorstep.

Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring at 8:28 of the first period via a shot from the high slot.

Bryan Rust doubled the Penguins' lead at 8:57 with a shot from the right doorstep off the rush.

Colorado cut its deficit in half at 11:01 of the first period when Lehkonen scored his fifth goal of the season via a shot from the left doorstep off the rush set up by MacKinnon's feed.

Blackwood kept the Avalanche's deficit at one with a key save on Samuel Girard's shot from the slot at 11:38 of the first period.

The Avs tied the game at 25 seconds of the middle frame when Lehkonen scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season via a backhand shot from the doorstep after catching the puck in the air and dropping it to his stick.

Landeskog gave Colorado a 3-2 lead at 4:24 of the middle frame with his third goal of the season via a shot from the right doorstep that was set up by Brock Nelson's nifty feed after he collected the rebound created by Kadri's shot.

At 4:59 of the middle frame, Blackwood kept Colorado ahead with a huge save on Rickard Rakell's backhand shot on a breakaway.

Colorado doubled its lead at 14:57 of the middle frame when Hughes scored his first-career NHL goal via a shot from the doorstep set up by MacKinnon's backhand feed.

MacKinnon gave the Avs a 5-2 lead on the power play at 15:06 of the third period with his sixth goal of the season via a left-circle one-timer.

Next Up

The Avalanche begins a two-game road trip with a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday at 5 p.m. MDT on Altitude, Altitude+, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.