DENVER
For about ten minutes on Friday night in Denver, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked like they had Colorado figured out. Then Nathan MacKinnon took over the game, and the Avalanche scored five straight goals to beat Pittsburgh 5-2, closing a loud night at Ball Arena with their stars driving every important shift.
MacKinnon finished with one goal and three assists for a four-point night, pushing his total to 16 points in eight games. It was the kind of performance that changes a game in layers: first the pressure, then the chances, then the scoreboard. Pittsburgh led 2-0 early. By the time the second period ended, Colorado led, and by the third the Penguins were chasing a game that had slipped completely away.
The Penguins struck twice in 29 seconds in the first period. Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring, and Bryan Rust doubled the lead almost immediately, silencing the building and putting Colorado in the exact spot no home team wants in the opening frame — down two, with the visitors dictating pace. For a veteran Pittsburgh group built around Sidney Crosby and Malkin, it was a textbook road start.
Colorado's answer started with depth and finished with its stars. Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, continuing his habit of finding the hard areas around the net where playoff-style goals live in October. Gabriel Landeskog scored the go-ahead goal, the 83rd go-ahead goal of his career, tying Mikko Rantanen for sixth in Avalanche history in that category. For a captain whose return to full health has been one of the franchise's defining storylines, every milestone carries extra weight — and this one flipped the game for good.
The supporting cast filled in the rest. T.J. Hughes scored his first NHL goal, the kind of moment that gets a puck saved, a stick taped, and a locker room on its feet. Martin Necas added three assists, threading passes through a Pittsburgh defense that spent long stretches pinned in its own zone during the second period. Cale Makar added two assists from the blue line, quarterbacking breakouts and keeping plays alive at the point with his usual calm.
Colorado scored three times in the second period alone, turning a 2-0 deficit into a lead the Avalanche would not give back. The five unanswered goals told the story of the night: Pittsburgh's best punch came early, and Colorado's came in waves. Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves to close the door, steady after the shaky start and sharp in the third period when Pittsburgh pushed to get back within one.
There was history on the losing side, too. Crosby recorded the 1,110th assist of his career, moving into sole possession of seventh place on the NHL's all-time list. The assist also left him one shy of Ray Bourque's 1,111 assists with one franchise, a mark that underlines just how much of Crosby's greatness has happened in one sweater. Even in defeat, the Penguins' captain added another line to a record book he has been rewriting for two decades.
For Pittsburgh, the loss is a study in missed opportunity. A 2-0 lead on the road, built in under half a minute, is the kind of start that should produce at least a point. Instead, the Penguins surrendered five straight and now face a quick turnaround: they visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday in Las Vegas, the second stop on a demanding trip. Readers can find our recap of Vegas's latest home win in Stone's hat trick game against Calgary, and full scores in our sports section.
For Colorado, the takeaway is simpler. When MacKinnon, Makar, Necas and Lehkonen are all producing on the same night, and Landeskog is scoring go-ahead goals again, the Avalanche look like the team nobody wants to see on the schedule. Sixteen points in eight games for MacKinnon is not a hot start anymore — it is a statement that his season is already in full gear, and Friday night in Denver, Pittsburgh found out what that looks like up close. More coverage is in the latest news from the desk.
The structure of Colorado's comeback matters as much as the names on the scoresheet. After falling behind 2-0, the Avalanche did not chase the game with low-percentage plays. They shortened shifts, got pucks deep, and let their transition game do the damage in the second period, when three goals in twenty minutes broke Pittsburgh's defensive shape. It is the pattern that has defined Colorado's best hockey for years: survive the first punch, then overwhelm teams with speed through the neutral zone.
Lehkonen's two goals deserve their own note. He is rarely the first name mentioned on a roster with MacKinnon and Makar, but his net-front timing is a genuine weapon, and Friday was another reminder that Colorado's top six beats teams in more ways than the highlight plays. When Lehkonen is scoring twice and Necas is collecting three assists, opponents cannot load up on a single line — and that depth is what turns a good Avalanche team into a frightening one.
Pittsburgh's weekend does not ease up. Saturday's trip to Vegas, against a Golden Knights team coming off its own big home win, asks the Penguins to fix their defensive-zone coverage overnight. The bright spot remains the top of the lineup: Malkin scored, Rust scored, and Crosby moved up another rung of history. But the Penguins have now seen a winnable road game become a three-goal loss, and the standings in October are built on exactly these nights.
