Two teams on a roll will go head-to-head when the Colorado Avalanche visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
The Avalanche have won three of four on their current five-game road trip, which concludes in Pittsburgh, after dropping three of their previous four outings. The trip kicked off with a bang last Tuesday when Colorado erased a four-goal deficit in rallying for a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Most recently, the Avalanche skated away with a 4-0 victory against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, sweeping a weekend back-to-back.
“I think it was our best game of the year on the defensive side of it,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after the game. “To be honest with you, I just felt like we looked really organized, really disciplined, above the puck early.”
The Avalanche scored first for a third straight game Sunday and have opened the scoring in four of their past five games after allowing the first tally in five straight. It hasn’t helped that they’ve allowed a league-high 42 goals in the first period while scoring only 25 in the opening frame.
“It doesn’t help you out,” defenseman Devon Toews said of the slow starts. “If you’re not going to be consistent in this league, you’re not going to win.”
Unreliable goaltending has been a factor, but the Avalanche hope they’ve found a solution in acquiring Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. The Avalanche dealt away goalie Alexandar Georgiev and forward Nikolai Kovalenko in the trade while also receiving veteran forward Givani Smith.
Blackwood is 6-9-3 in 19 games (17 starts) this season, with a 3.00 goals-against and a .909 save percentage.
Colorado acquired Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators (in exchange for 24-year-old Justus Annunen) on Nov. 30 to give the team a more experienced backup option. The veteran journeyman made his Avalanche debut on Dec. 3, relieving Georgiev after he gave up four goals on eight shots against Buffalo. Wedgewood stopped all 22 shots he faced.
Wedgewood has won two of his three appearances since joining the Avalanche, including the win against the Devils.
The Penguins, meanwhile, have won five of their past six games after losing six of their previous seven. They rebounded from a 4-2 setback against the host New York Rangers on Friday with a 5-2 home triumph against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
“Nobody was happy with how the game went (Friday),” forward Bryan Rust said. “… We just played harder. Came out from the drop of the puck. That team was physical, they played hard, they played in your face. For the most part, we matched that. Played really hard. (Goaltender Tristan Jarry) was great. Special teams were pretty good. Overall, it was a good win.”
After winning just one of his first six starts, Jarry has won each of his past four starts. He’s allowed just seven goals in his past three outings, completing each of those with a save percentage above .900. Before that stretch, he had only one game with a save percentage of at least .900 — a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 19.
While the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin typically highlight the scoresheet, the Penguins have benefited lately from secondary scoring from Blake Lizotte. The forward, who turns 27 on Friday, has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.
–Field Level Media