Two teams that are playing well will face off when the Colorado Avalanche visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
The Avalanche have won three of their last four games on their current five-game road trip, which ends in Pittsburgh. This comes after they lost three of their previous four games. The trip started strong last Tuesday when Colorado made a huge comeback, overcoming a four-goal deficit to win 5-4 against the Buffalo Sabres.
Recently, the Avalanche won 4-0 against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, completing a successful weekend back-to-back.
“I think it was our best game of the year on the defensive side of it,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar 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 the third straight game on Sunday, and they’ve opened the scoring in four of their last five games. This is a big change from allowing the first goal in five consecutive games earlier. However, they’ve had trouble in the first period, giving up the most goals in the league (42) while scoring only 25.
“It doesn’t help you out,” said defenseman Devon Toews about the slow starts. “If you’re not going to be consistent in this league, you’re not going to win.”
Unsteady goaltending has also been a problem, but the Avalanche hope to solve this by acquiring Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. In the trade, Colorado gave up goalie Alexandar Georgiev and forward Nikolai Kovalenko, and also received veteran forward Givani Smith.
Blackwood has a record of 6-9-3 in 19 games this season (17 starts) with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
To improve their backup goalie situation, the Avalanche also acquired Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators on Nov. 30 in exchange for 24-year-old Justus Annunen. Wedgewood made his debut with Colorado on Dec. 3, replacing 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 games with the Avalanche, including the win over the Devils.
Meanwhile, the Penguins have won five of their last six games after a rough stretch where they lost six of seven. They bounced back from a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Friday with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
“Nobody was happy with how the game went (Friday),” said forward Bryan Rust. “… 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. It was a good win.”
Jarry, who had a rough start to the season with just one win in his first six starts, has now won four straight games. He has allowed only seven goals in his last three games, finishing each with a save percentage above .900. Before this stretch, he had only one game with a save percentage above .900, which was a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 19.
While players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are usually the ones leading the Penguins’ offense, the team has also gotten some help from secondary scoring, especially from Blake Lizotte. The 27-year-old forward, who turns 27 on Friday, has six points (three goals and three assists) in a four-game point streak.
