After falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning only 48 hours ago in a high-scoring affair, the Avalanche welcomed the defending Stanley Cup champions to the Pepsi Center, coming up with the 4-2 victory, as well as the season sweep of the Penguins.
The Avalanche hopped onto the scoreboard first, as Tyson Barrie received a pass from Matt Nieto, and fire a wrist shot from the point that would beat Penguins goalie Matt Murray at the 5:04 mark of the first period to give the Avalanche the early 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh tied up the game at the 10:39 mark of the first period, as Carter Rowney won a faceoff in the Avalanche zone, and Chad Ruhwedel fired a shot from the point that beat Varlamov.
After plenty of chances by both teams, and a disallowed goal for the Avalanche, the first period would remain tied at one for each team by the end of the first period.
Barrie scored his second goal of the night, off of an Avalanche powerplay. Barrie threw a shot on goal from the point, that would find its way past Murray, giving the Avalanche the 2-1 lead over the Penguins.
With the goal, Barrie is now tied for most points among all defensemen in the NHL with Dallas Star defenseman John Klingberg at 27 points in the season.
“I thought that Tyson [Barrie] was outstanding tonight, and I loved the way that he was shooting the puck,” coach Jared Bednar said following the game. “Every time the puck got in his hands at the blue line or on the rush, he was getting it back to the net and that is what we need, and he ends up scoring two goals because of it.”
After multiple chances throughout the game, JT Compher would find the back at the 18:20 mark of the 2nd period to give the Avalanche the 3-1 lead over the Penguins, batting the puck out of mid-air past Matt Murray.
“That line was really good, and I liked all three of those guys. Tenacious on pucks, strong in the battles, and the wingers [Andrighetto and Wilson] they were winning all the defensive zone battles,” Bednar said on the performance of Compher’s line.
The score would remain the same for the remainder of the second period, as the Avs outshot the Penguins 28 to 24 going into the final period of the game.
Early in the third period, Evgeni Malkin found the back of the net from a tough angle off of a rebound from Varlamov — cutting the Avalanche lead to one.
Although the Penguins were able to cut the deficit to just one, the Avalanche kept it that way until Mikko Rantanen scored on an empty net — giving the Avalanche the 4-2 victory, and the season sweep over the Penguins.
“It means a lot obviously,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “I think internally for us as a group to know that we can beat the Stanley Cup champions not just once but twice. Not only beating them, but the way that we beat them tonight. It felt like guys were playing the right way, and obviously they [Pittsburgh] are going to get some chances, because they are a really good team, but I thought we played the right way for the most part. We played hard, and guys really sacrificed tonight. I loved a lot of the things that we did out there.”
With the victory the Avalanche move to 16-15-2 on the season, giving them 34 points as they continue to chase the Minnesota Wild for a wildcard position.
The Avalanche will have a few days rest, before traveling to Los Angeles to take on the Kings on Thursday, December 21st. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:30 PM MST and will be televised on Altitude.