PITTSBURGH — The Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff spot with the help of two goals from Nathan MacKinnon in a 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
It's the fifth straight playoff berth for the Avs, who also became the first NHL team to 50 wins this season and have ripped off nine wins in 11 games.
MacKinnon scored his 23rd and 24th of the season, while J.T. Compher got his his 14th of the year. Darren Helm, Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen also scored. Darcy Kuemper won his 33rd game and stopped 41 shots.
Bryan Rust, Evan Rodrigues, Jake Guentzel and Mike Matheson all scored for the Penguins, but they lost for the second time in as many games against Colorado. The Avalanche beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in Denver on Saturday. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for Pittsburgh, which has lost five of its last seven games.
Pittsburgh and Colorado exchanged goals in the first 5:30 of the game. MacKinnon’s centering pass hit Rust’s stick and went past Jarry. Mikko Rantanen continued a six-game point streak with an assist in his 400th NHL game (he has 400 career points).
Rust responded for Pittsburgh, and established a new career-high in points, when he converted a rebound behind Kuemper to tie the game.
Colorado opened a 3-1 lead with a pair of second-period goals scored 2:07 apart. Compher scored on a rebound in the slot and MacKinnon netted his second of the game with a harmless looking wrist shot from the left point.
Rodrigues scored his first goal in 11 games at 17:43 of the second, as Pittsburgh trailed 3-2 entering the third.
Colorado regained its multigoal lead for good just 1:01 into the third when Manson’s point shot beat Jarry. Manson’s goal was the 57th by a Colorado defenseman, the most by an NHL blueline since the 2007-2008 Chicago Blackhawks scored 59 goals.
