Jonathan Drouin scored 54 seconds into overtime, his second goal of the game, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Sunday in Denver.
The Penguins led 4-0 with 4:20 remaining in the second period.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 18 games and his home point streak to 34 games. It is the second longest in NHL history, behind Wayne Gretzky’s 40-game streak in 1988-89.
MacKinnon now has 122 points, the most by an Avalanche player since the team relocated to Denver.
Sean Walker and Yakov Trenin also scored, Devon Toews had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev had 30 saves for Colorado (46-20-5, 99 points). Drouin added an assist.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists. Bryan Rust, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Jesse Puljujarvi had goals for the Penguins (30-30-10, 70 points).
Pittsburgh goalie Alex Nedeljkovic had 21 saves and left for 10 minutes after a collision with Casey Mittelstadt early in the third. Tristan Jarry allowed the tying goal before Nedeljkovic came back in.
The Penguins were able to get two by Georgiev in the first 20 minutes. Puljujarvi made it 1-0 when he cleaned up Reilly Smith’s rebound at 7:53, his second goal of the season, and Pittsburgh went ahead 2-0 on Rust’s 22nd goal at 15:11 of the first.
The Penguins scored twice within two minutes of the second period to extend the lead to 4-0. Crosby deflected Puustinen’s shot by Georgiev at 13:47, his 34th, and Joseph made it 4-0 with a shot from the top of the slot at 15:40, his first of the season.
Colorado rallied late in the second to make it a game.
Walker’s ninth goal came 15 seconds after Joseph scored and Trenin made it 4-2 when he deflected Brandon Duhaime’s shot at 19:30. It was his 11th of the season and first with the Avalanche.
Drouin made it 4-3 at 3:32 of the third off a pass from MacKinnon, his 13th of the season, and Mackinnon’s one-timer at 15:22 sent it to overtime. It was his 44th of the season.
–Field Level Media
