Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon power Avalanche past Penguins

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Dec 10, 2024

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — The Colorado Avalanche hockey club is still not whole, but it sure looks like a potential powerhouse again.

Mikko Rantanen had a hat trick and two assists, and Nathan MacKinnon had one goal and four assists as Colorado’s stars dominated in a 6-2 victory Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

The Avs finished a season-long five-game road trip with four victories and are now a season-high four games over .500 (17-13-0). This trip started with Buffalo scoring the first four goals, but Colorado outscored its foes 20-8 the rest of the way.

“Yeah, really good,” Rantanen said. “I think it’s been two nine-day road trips in a short period of time, but our record has been really good. We’ve been playing really good on the road, and hopefully now we can go home and keep it going.”

Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves and looked solid in net again. He’s now won three times in four appearances, including 48 minutes of shutout hockey to help the club rally against the Sabres and then the first 60-minute shutout of the season two nights ago in New Jersey.

The Avs are still missing Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood up front, plus Josh Manson on defense. They’ve swapped out both of their opening-night goaltenders — the first team in NHL history to trade them both away before Christmas.

But they have also now won three games in a row and have looked like the “real” Avs for the past seven periods. Colorado’s defensive prowess has been equally, if not more, impressive than the work at the offensive end. Wedgewood has provided stability in net, and his old teammate Mackenzie Blackwood will be joining him when the club gets back to Denver.

“Yeah, it does,” MacKinnon said when asked if this is what this team is supposed to look like. “Once we get (Drouin) back, we’ll be even better. It just feels like we gave up a couple good looks, but nothing crazy. (Wedgwood) made the saves he was supposed to make. It’s nice. Yeah, it feels great.”

MacKinnon opened the scoring at 6:31 of the first period with his 10th goal of the season. He blew past Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to create a 2-on-1 and then beat Tristan Jarry for his third goal in four games after what constituted a slump for the reigning league MVP (no goals and seven points in the previous 10 contests).

Rantanen had an assist on the play. It was the 362nd goal that MacKinnon and Rantanen have combined on, which passes Peter and Anton Stastny for the most in franchise history.

MacKinnon added assists on four of the next five goals, including all three in the third period, for the ninth five-point game of his career.

“Honestly, it was a weird game,” MacKinnon said. “I didn’t feel like I did anything special out there, and I got five. I don’t know why. I wish I did. I’d do that every game.”

The guy they call “Moose” had the next two tallies. Cale Makar intercepted a pass and then slipped a pass to Rantanen, who completed the highlight reel with a quick deke and shot at 18:22 of the first.

Rantanen made it a three-goal lead early in the second. Pittsburgh’s defenders broke up a potential chance for Colorado, but MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen created a turnover to keep the possession going. Then Calvin de Haan connected with Rantanen for a long-distance one-timer that trickled through Jarry at 5:46.

At that point, the Avs were rolling, but the Penguins found their way back into this one with a pair of goals.

Cody Glass scored his first of the season at 7:21 at the end of a great passing sequence from Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. Then Erik Karlsson found Michael Bunting in front of the Colorado net a few seconds after a Pittsburgh power play concluded, and it was suddenly a 3-2 game with 1:07 left in the middle period.

Valeri Nichushkin ended a stretch of so-so play for the Avs with a beautiful individual effort to make it a two-goal lead early in the third period, then Rantanen set up Lehkonen for a goal and put his third of the night into an empty net to erase any doubt.

The Avalanche — the team that could win 16 playoff games, that expects to win that many — might have finally arrived during the 2024-25 season.

“I told the guys before the game, I said now they’re in trouble,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We played some good periods and some good games, but the Jersey one for me was all 20 guys, start to finish, highly committed … the defending side of it was outstanding.

“Now I want to see a version of that every night.”

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