Game Preview: 03.16.26 at Colorado Avalanche

The Penguins continue their five-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche at the Ball Arena. Puck drop is set for 9:30 PM ET.

This game will be available to watch on SportsNet Pittsburgh, ESPN, and Prime. Fans can listen to the game on 105.9 The X and on the Penguins app.

Team Records: PIT (33-18-15), COL (44-12-9)

The Penguins have points in 13 of their last 21 games against the Avalanche (11-8-2) dating back to Apr. 6, 2014. Pittsburgh has points in five of their last nine games on the road against Colorado (4-4-1).  The Penguins have points in three of their last five visits to Ball Arena (2-2-1). Pittsburgh is 14-7-6 against Western Conference opponents this year.

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Lineup Notes

Evgeni Malkin returns to the lineup tonight after serving his five-game suspension for slashing Rasmus Dahlin in a matchup with the Sabres on March 5.

He ranks fourth on the team with 47 points and second with 34 assists in just 46 games played.

“The year that Geno's had has been spectacular for someone who's 39 years old,” Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said.

Justin Brazeau also returns to the lineup after missing four games due to injury. Blake Lizotte has been ruled out with an upper-body injury. Arturs Silovs starts in goal. 

These are the lines and D-pairs the Penguins used:

Chinakhov-Novak-Malkin

Mantha-Rakell-Rust

Koivunen-Kindel-Brazeau

Soderblom-Dewar-Acciari

(K. Hayes-Crosby-A. Hayes)

Wotherspoon-Karlsson

Shea-Letang

Solovyov-Clifton

(Girard)

Game Notes

Quick Hits

Sam Girard returns to possibly face his former team for the first time since being traded on February 24, where he had 232 points (37G-198A) in 583 games with Colorado. He was also part of their 2022 Stanley Cup winning team. 

Bryan Rust has 10 points (5G-5A) in his last nine games played against the Avalanche. He has an active seven-game point streak (4G-4A) versus them. 

Pittsburgh has points in 26 of 30 games (20-4-6) that Tommy Novak has recorded at least one point in. 

Rickard Rakell comes into Monday’s game on a five-game point streak (2G-4A) and his next point would be his longest point streak of the season.  

Bryan Rust enters Monday’s game riding a three-game point streak (3G-2A) and has points in eight of his last nine games played (5G-6A) dating back to Feb. 28.

ON A ROLL

The Penguins have been one of the NHL’s best teams since Christmas, having picked up points in 24 of their 30 games with a 18-6-6 record. They rank near the top of the league in multiple statistical categories.

Since returning from the Olympic Break, Pittsburgh has points in seven of their 10 games with a 4-3-3 record.

SWEDE ASSISTS

Erik Karlsson tallied two assists on Saturday against Utah and now has six assists in the last four games overall. He now sits three behind Daniel Alfredsson for fifth most all-time by a Swedish-born player.

MANTHA'S CAREER YEAR

Forward Anthony Mantha tallied a goal and an assist on Saturday night to help him tie his career high in goals. It also gives him six points (4G-2A) over his last four games. Mantha now sits just one goal shy of setting his new career-best.

Mantha has been one of, if not the best, free agent signings this past offseason by any team. No player on a new team in 2025-26, via draft, free agency or trade, has more goals than Mantha.

SILKY SWEDE

Erik Karlsson tallied two assists on Saturday against the Mammoth and now has 11 points (2G-9A) in the last nine games. He ranks third among defensemen in points in that span.

In that span, Karlsson is tied for second in the NHL in power-play points (6), trailing only Jason Robertson

With his two assists, he surpassed Bobby Orr for 12th in NHL history for points by defensemen (916).

DIRTY THIRTY

Sidney Crosby comes into Monday’s game three goals shy of reaching the 30-goal mark for the 14th time in his career and the fifth-consecutive season. Only six players in NHL history have more 30-goal seasons than him currently and only Alex Ovechkin has more among active players (19).

MULTI-POINT MAYHEM

Sidney Crosby has seven multi-point efforts in his last 18 games and is now one such instance shy of tying both Mark Messier and Marcel Dionne for third most multi-point games in NHL history.

SUPER ROOKIE

Ben Kindel enters Monday’s game with 11 points (8G-3A) over his last 16 games. Kindel is up to 16 goals on the season, which ranks fourth among NHL rookies. Four of his 16 goals have been game-winning tallies, and he’s one game-winning goal shy of the NHL single-season record for an 18 year old.

SCORING SENSATION

Egor Chinakhov has made his presence felt early on in his time in Pittsburgh. He has 21 points (11G-8A) in 28 games, helping the Penguins go 16-6-6 with him in the lineup. Since he made his Penguins debut on January 1, no Penguin has more goals than him.

Chinakhov has seven points (1G-6A) over his last five games. Since that stretch began on Mar. 7, he and teammate Erik Karlsson (1G-6A) are tied for second in the NHL in points.

ALL THE APPLES

Erik Karlsson notched his 40th assist of the season on Saturday night in Utah. It marked his third 40-assist campaign in as many seasons with the Penguins, and he’s now just the sixth defenseman in team history to have three or more 40-assist season.

LETANG 800

Kris Letang enters Monday’s game one point shy of 800 career points. He would be the 21st defenseman to reach the mark in NHL history and fourth active blueliner to do so.

Letang holds every major statistical record among defensemen in Penguins’ history which includes games played (1,221), goals (178), assists (621) and points (799). He would become the ninth defenseman in NHL history to reach the mark with one team.