Malkin has 2 goals, assist in return, Penguins cruise past Avalanche

DENVER -- Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist in his return for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated the Colorado Avalanche 7-2 at Ball Arena on Monday.

Malkin was playing for the first time after serving a five-game suspension for slashing Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin in a 5-1 loss on March 5.

“When you miss five games, and like (we) play against Colorado here at home, I'm little bit nervous before game,” Malkin said. “But when I score first goal, I feel better so much. But again, it's big mistake for me, five games, but guys play well. I want to say thank you for teammates. It's a bad moment for me.”

Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists, and Bryan Rust, Elmer Soderblom, and Noel Acciari each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (34-18-15), who have won two straight and are 2-1-1 through the first four of a five-game road trip. Arturs Silovs made 25 saves.

"Obviously you come out of the first period and you like the score, but you don't totally love the process, and you know that we can do a better job in terms of defending,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “I thought the guys, the play away from the puck, the defensive game, built as the game went on.

“You go through the course of the year, like all these things, they stack up. You own them. You own those experiences. And so like, you take it and you move it forward.”

Nathan MacKinnon and Brent Burns scored for the Avalanche (44-13-9), who have lost two straight and three of their past four (1-3-0). Scott Wedgewood allowed three goals on five shots before being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood at 13 minutes of the first period. Blackwood made 11 saves in relief.

“Tonight was just bad, too. We just played bad,” MacKinnon said. “It wasn't like we were all bad. I thought we had a good start. I don't know. It's one of those nights that just (stunk).

“It was a big game. We got Dallas Wednesday now. That was a game we kind of had to win. So hopefully we can bounce back.”

Malkin gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 3:01 of the first period when he took a pass from Rust in the left circle, turned up the ice, and sent a backhand short side past Wedgewood’s blocker. The play came just 13 seconds after Malkin exited the penalty box following a tripping penalty.

“We scored seven goals. Everybody’s excited, and it's good because I think we not win here (in a) long time and it's tough to play here,” Malkin said. “Whole team played good. It's just we play right for 60 minutes. We’re focused all game. We know we play against a great team, and just we want to win."

MacKinnon tied it 1-1 at 4:08 with a wrist shot from inside the high slot that went top shelf far side. Martin Necas took the puck below the right dot before cutting back up the ice and feeding MacKinnon a backhand pass on the play.

“I think lines and D pairs need to sit down and go through clips and figure out what our system is right now. Like [there's] too much passing around the perimeter,” MacKinnon said. “Like the only good shift of the game we had was when 'Burnsy' took four shots from the strong side, and then they tipped one in the net.

“So that's how we have to play. We're too perimeter. We don't shoot enough. We haven't had 30 shots in four games now, which is very, very rare for us.”

Anthony Mantha scored 15 seconds later on the breakaway to put the Penguins back ahead 2-1 at 4:23. Karlsson sprung him with a pass from below his own red line all the way to the far blue line, and Mantha went forehand-backhand before finishing five-hole.

“Great heads-up play by him,” Mantha said. “Obviously, shot went wide, and I just kind of cheated maybe a little bit. But sometimes you get rewarded, and backhand five-hole just like we love it.”

Malkin scored again at 13:00 to make it 3-1. Egor Chinakhov fed him all alone in the slot, and Malkin deked before sending a wrister short side over the leg of Wedgewood, who was then replaced by Blackwood.

Soderblom’s goal 43 seconds later extended it to 4-1 after he converted on the rebound of Connor Dewar’s redirection at the left side of the crease. The puck went off the right leg of Blackwood directly to Soderblom for the snap shot into the open net. It was Soderbloom’s first goal with Pittsburgh after being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on March 6.

“I thought he was really good,” Muse said. “Obviously, offensively it was awesome to see him get his first goal, first assist show up on the score sheet because he's had a lot of chances. But then also defensively, like that line's put in a lot of defensive situations. And so our thought was, let's get him right in there. Wasn't trying to hide him from anything. He's shown some really good instincts there defensively, and so, yeah, I thought it was a really strong game for him.”

Burns cut it to 4-2 at 14:21 when his point shot caromed off the stick of Mantha in the slot and went short side past the glove.

“The disappointing part for me is you're down 4-2. You like what you're doing offensively,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “You should come out in the second with a push, and our game went completely the opposite way. Like three shots, no push, one-and-done on every entry, and just look like we want to try and skill our way through it. And they just played the right way the whole game and score ends up where it ends up.

“The goals and chances that we're giving up are just like blatant guys getting beat, guys getting outcompeted. Just not digging in enough, and we're giving up easy chances. That start is not on 'Wedgie' at all. Like, what's he going to do? Some of the chances that we're giving up are guys all alone at the net front.”

Karlsson pushed it to 5-2 at 10:36 of the second period after his point shot from inside the blue line ricocheted off Sam Malinski’s glove five-hole.

“It's a good confidence-booster for our team. Obviously, we know we're able to play with every team,” Mantha said. “The way we played tonight, I mean, it just shows how resilient our team is and how special we are in here.

“We created turnovers. Obviously, that's a big thing against this team. If we play good without the puck, we're going to get our chances up front, and we were just able to find the back of the net.”

Rust’s power-play goal made it 6-2 at 16:20 on the breakaway. Malkin fed him in stride at the far blue line and he beat Blackwood five-hole from the right circle.

Acciari then made it to 7-2 at 9:06 of the third period when Soderblom’s backhand pass redirected off his skate at the left post.

NOTES: Malkin factored on the opening goal for the 232nd time, passing Mario Lemieux (231) for the second most in Penguins history, behind Sidney Crosby (296). … Malkin recorded his 35th multigoal period and passed Jaromir Jagr for third most in Penguins history behind Lemieux (71) and Crosby (37). … Karlsson recorded his 148th career multi-assist game and tied Brian Leetch for ninth most by a defenseman in NHL history. … Karlsson also recorded his 54th career three-point game and tied Nicklas Lidstrom for 10th most by a defenseman in NHL history. … MacKinnon recorded his fourth straight 110-point season and became the sixth player in NHL history with a run of that length. … Burns scored his 271st career goal and surpassed Bobby Orr (270) for sole possession of the seventh most by a defenseman in NHL history.