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Penguins vs. Avalanche recap; Pens win 4-3

The Penguins score 3 goals in a 2:08 stretch in the second period and Sidney Crosby adds a goal in the 3rd period to help Pittsburgh defeat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3.

By Hooks Orpik
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 at home Wednesday night, courtesy an explosive stretch in the second period, which had been their worst period of the season to this point.

The Highlights

Evgeni Malkin keepin in 100, as the kids like to say, saving a goal and beating Matt Duchene to the rebound. For as much as Marc-Andre Fleury saves the Pens bacon, consider this a small token back.

After a weak penalty against Pascal Dupuis for "interfering" (by basically doing nothing) Kris Letang had a terribly weak clearing attempt on the ensuing faceoff. Then no Pens defensemen covered Matt Duchene, who was able to corral a rebound kicked out by Marc-Andre Fleury to slam home the first goal of the game in the last minute of the first period.

Then the game would change in the second period.

We'll rapid fire the GIF's for you

First David Perron scores his third goal of the season by deflecting in an Ian Cole shot.

Then, 1:29 later Evgeni Malkin strikes on the power play.

Finally, just 39 seconds later, Avs goalie Reto Barra makes a huge gaffe, and to his credit Chris Kunitz makes a nice play to swoop in and press the advantage to 3-1 Pens with a goalie out of position.

The Pens were officially off to the races but in the 3rd period the Avs would close the gap back to 1 with a goal from Tyson Barrie that bounces right in front of Fleury. Tough break for the Pens there.

Sidney Crosby would score what would prove to be an important goal to make it 4-2 when he took a nice pass from Dupuis, left Nick Holden in the dust and beat Berra 5-hole.

Duchene scores his second of the night and 10th of the season with 1:27 left, but that would be the end of the scoring.

Some Thoughts

  • After only one assist all season, Cole recorded 2 tonight. Sometimes less is more and now that he's away from Letang, he looks more comfortable and active out there. Probably a good thing to keep him off the first pair for now.
  • Perron now is up to 7 points (3g, 4a) in his last 11 games after being put on the Malkin- Phil Kessel line. Perron's also been very active in front of the net, drawing the ire of opponents. His game has been strong of late, and nice to see him rewarded with a goal.
  • Shots were 31-30 Colorado, but total attempts were 56-46 Pittsburgh. Will be interesting to see how the numbers based recap looks tomorrow morning.
  • Blake Comeau was a -3 tonight and had no shots on goal. He's only got 1 goal this season (on the PP) in 19 games. The Malkin factor really kicked in last season for him.
  • Speaking of, Malkin scores a goal, Geno saves a goal, what can't he do right now? The Pens best and most visible skater.
  • Nice to see the Pens top power play score again tonight. The PP often draws ire, but they're finding the net more often than not recently.
  • How you can tell Colorado is a bad team: a stain like Cody McLeod is an alternate captain.
  • Matt Duchene was the target of trade rumors recently but man he's been hot lately. 2 goals tonight, and he nearly poked in that one that Malkin pulled off the line. Tremendous player.
  • The ever superstitious Crosby took to warm-ups tonight without wearing his helmet (which only a handful of NHL players do nowadays) and he scored just his 3rd goal of the year. Dollars to donuts you know there's not gonna be a bucket on his head next time out.

Another win for the Penguins who are back on the ice Saturday night at home against San Jose.

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