DENVER (AP) — Casey Mittelstadt scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 4:09 remaining, Nathan MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 17 games, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, including into an empty net with 1:08 left, and Jack Drury added another empty-netter as the Avalanche moved to 3-0 on their six-game homestand.
Scott Wedgewood was stellar in goal, stopping 32 shots in his first appearance since Feb. 22. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren made his Colorado debut after being acquired from the New York Rangers last weekend.
Rickard Rakell tied the game at 1 when he took advantage of a turnover late in the second period. Alex Nedeljkovic made 21 saves as the Penguins fell to 1-5-1 since the break.
MacKinnon had two assists to give him 992 career points. His good friend and offseason training partner Sidney Crosby also recorded an assist on Rakell's tying goal to give him 1,662 points.
Takeaways
Penguins: Forward Bryan Rust notched an assist to extend his point streak against the Avalanche to seven games.
Avalanche: This was Colorado's 1,200th regular-season win since moving to Denver in 1995-96.
Key moment
Nedeljkovic denied Valeri Nichushkin twice on breakaways. But Nichushkin made it a happy 30th birthday with a nifty pass to set up Mittelstadt's winning power-play goal.
Key stat
Lindgren became the 43rd player to appear in a game for Colorado this season. That ties the 2022-23 squad for the most since the Avalanche moved to Denver.
Up next
The Avalanche host San Jose on Thursday night, and the Penguins play at Vegas on Friday.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Pat Graham, The Associated Press
