* Goaltender Tristan Jarry made his sixth consecutive start and eighth straight appearance in the blue paint for Pittsburgh. His previous outing didn't go so well as he allowed three goals and was pulled after 20 minutes against Toronto. The question was how Jarry would handle bouncing back from such an ugly outing.
The answer: magnificently.
Jarry made several ridiculous saves for Pittsburgh, including a shorthanded breakaway stop on J.T. Compher and a split pad save on Blake Comeau late in the third period. It was a tough test for the rookie tender, and he passed easily. Jarry gave the Pens a chance to win.
* Nova Scotia-native Nathan MacKinnon is off to the best start of his five-year NHL career. He was definitely the Avalanche's best player in the game, and appeared to have scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season with a nice move around defenseman Kris Letang before slipping the puck through Jarry's five-hole.
However, the Penguins challenged the play for offside. The challenge was upheld and the goal was negated.
* The Pens had their spurts of dominance, mostly in the third period, but it was an otherwise lackluster performance. Pittsburgh seemed to have no flow, appeared disjointed and its passes were off. Collectively, the Pens struggled to really find their game and assert themselves.
It was an uninspiring night all around for Pittsburgh.
* Entering the game, goaltender Jonathan Bernier had won just once in 10 previous appearances against the Pens. He improved that to twice.
* Phil Kessel extended his scoring streak to 5 games with a late third-period goal (4G-1A). He had 7 shots in the game. Evgeni Malkin also added to his point streak, which is at 5 games (2G-4A).
