Halfway through the third period, there were no additional goals added to the board. With under seven minutes left in the contest, the Penguins scored to tie it up, only to be scored on by Devon Toews less than 30 seconds later. Devon Toews goal was the game-winner for Colorado.
THE GOALS
1st Period
No Scoring.
2nd Period
9:59 COL (1-0) - Turning the puck over at their own blue line, the Avs went on a rush where Nathan MacKinnon carried the puck into the zone, slammed on the brakes to make a drop pass to Andre Burakovsky who shot the puck in from the zone which rebounded above Tristan Jarry and was batted out of the air and in by Mikko Rantanen.
14:46 PIT (1-1) - Wrapping behind the Avalanche net, Jake Guentzel sent the puck to the point to Kris Letang who one-timed the shot off the pads of Kuemper and the rebound was put home by Sidney Crosby.
15:06 COL (2-1) - Escaping the zone, Nico Sturm chipped the puck up the Alex Newhook and skated to the Penguins zone with speed to hit the brakes and lose the puck right to Nicolas Aube-Kubel who took a hard slap shot over the pad of Jarry.
3rd Period
15: 07: PIT (2-2) - After a missed shot on goal, the puck bounced into the slot to Jake Guentzel who looked up and found Michael Matheson all by himself on the weak side of the ice for a one-timer.
15:34: COL (3-2) - Andre Burakovksy entered the zone and made a cross-ice pass to Mikko Rantanen for a shot that was blocked by a Penguins forward but quickly shot again by Nathan MacKinnon off of the boards behind the net to Devon Toews who shot the puck in.
Final: COL - 3 | PIT - 2
POWER PLAYS
Colorado: 0/0
Penguins: 0/1
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Colorado: Darcy Kuemper saved 36 of 38 shots on goal.
Opponent: Tristan Jarry allowed 3 of 40 shots on goal.
NOTEBOOK
Nazem Kadri has scored 150 points since joining the Colorado Avalanche. Andre Burakovsky has passed Carl Soderberg on the franchise goals leaderboard, now standing at 46th all-time.
ROSTER REPORT
Bowen Byram has moved to the Eagles for a conditioning contract.
INJURY UPDATE
Captain Gabriel Landeskog is sidelined after knee surgery. His return to the ice is unknown. Samuel Girard will not play, dealing with a lower-body injury. Nazem Kadri did not play as he is rehabbing an injury sustained in the last contest against San Jose.
UP NEXT
Colorado will take off for a three-game road trip starting in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Based on the start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
62 Artturi Lehkonen - 37 J.T. Compher - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel - 78 Nico Sturm - 18 Alex Newhook
11 Andrew Cogliano - 43 Darren Helm - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
3 Jack Johnson - 42 Josh Manson
56 Kurtis MacDermid - 6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
35 Darcy Kuemper
39 Pavel Francouz
