Good & Bad: Avalanche Play Sluggish, Still Beat Penguins

DENVER — Having three days off this late into the regular season might not be the best recipe for success for the Avalanche.

Despite beating the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday — a 4-1 victory off the backs of two empty-net goals — the Avs didn’t have a great performance. In fact, head coach Jared Bednar didn’t seem pleased at all with how his team played.

Scott Wedgewood made 32 saves and there were only a select few others that had good games.

“Thank God we had a handful of guys that played really well, because starting with Wedgie, he was outstanding,” Bednar said. “We, oh man, we did not move the puck at all tonight. Turnovers after turnovers to scoring chances against, it was ugly.”

The turnovers were a huge problem. Something I’ll dive more into below. But there’s something to be said about their resilience and ability to still come out with a win. Especially given their current spot in the standings as they chase Minnesota Wild for third in the Central Division.

The Avalanche got their only power play late in the third and got the game-winning goal from Casey Mittelstadt. Artturi Lehkonen had the only other goal that beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovic before Jack Drury and Lehkonen scored empty netters to complete the win.

Colorado has given up just one goal in each of its three straight wins at home.

“Oddly enough, I actually enjoyed the work,” Wedgewood said. “I played the last two games with, I think, combined what I worked for tonight with the Nashville and Boston games. We had the puck a lot more in those two games.

“I guess, kind of unfortunate execution on the offensive side.”

The scoring started early in the second period. After controlling play in the Penguins’ zone for a shift, the Avs’ top line eventually got on the board. Cale Makar found Nathan MacKinnon behind the net, and the league’s reigning Hart Trophy winner kept his eyes on the slot to find his linemate.

Lehkonen got open, received the pass, and quickly fired it past Nedeljkovic. His 25th of the season gave the Avs the game’s first lead.

They had ample chance to add to it. None better than a turnover by the Pens while on the power play. Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin came in on Nedeljkovic on a 2-on-0. Nichushkin looked off the pass and opted to shoot. He was unsuccessful, and the Penguins tied things up several minutes later.

Rickard Rakell made it 1-1 with 1:56 remaining in the middle frame, sending both teams into the break searching for the go-ahead goal.

The third period began the same way as the other two. The Avs just couldn’t move the puck well or find a way to get on the attack. It seemed like the Pens were doing an excellent job of not only holding the blueline, but often keeping the Avs from gaining possession in the neutral zone.

Eventually, Logan O’Connor drew a penalty and the power play got to work. The first unit was unable to capitalize but then four changes were made. Only MacKinnon stayed on the ice with the second unit, which now has way more weapons with all the forwards getting healthy in recent weeks.

Nichushkin got in tight to the goalie before sending a pass through the crease to Mittelstadt for the go-ahead goal.

Nichushkin was one of the players Bednar was pleased with.

“He’s a horse on the power play. We’ve gone pretty good without him in the lineup, so we want to leave [him on the secon unit],” Bednar said. “Val is still finding his game a little bit, but he’s been on the ice now for two power play goals since he’s been back in very minimal time. So we’ll keep bouncing those guys around and kind of going with the hot hand if we can.”

Good: Ryan Lindgren Debuts, Gets Notable Compliment From Coach

The Avs’ newest addition to the blueline was rock solid in his first game. Ryan Lindgren played 20:33 — trailing only the big three of Makar, Devon Toews, and Samuel Girard.

Bednar had nothing but good things to say about his Avalanche debut.

“As far as puck play goes and defending hard in the zone, I thought he was our best D tonight,” Bednar said. “So again, it’s not flashy. He’s not going to wow you, but he’s effective.”

Bednar hit the nail on the head. Having a player who could give you 20 responsible minutes on the back end without anything flashy is extremely important. Especially when you’ve gone most of the year with just three healthy reliable defensemen, all of whom play a more puck-moving offensive game.

The more comfortable Lindgren gets, the better he’ll look. This was the exact type of player they needed.

Bad: Turnovers All Over the Ice

Bednar was understandably frustrated with how the Avs played given how well they looked in the first two games of the homestand. Pittsburgh was 1-5-1 in its last seven games and gave up 35 goals.

Rather than trying to take advantage of that, the Avalanche were instead a turnover machine. Wedgewood spent most of the first two periods bailing out his teammates, who were turning the puck over up and down the ice.

Before Rakell made it 1-1, Wedgewood bailed out Oliver Kylington and Girard on a turnover. He also made a save after Miles Wood gave the puck away in his own zone, which also led to a power play for Pittsburgh. Wedgewood was solid in helping kill that off, too.

Toew later turned the puck over but was bailed out by his goalie. But the Avs’ game plan to continue to play with fire eventually caught up to them. Makar turned it over and the Pens completed a tic-tac-toe. Sidney Crosby to Bryan Rust to Rakell for his 29th of the season.