Penguins At Avalanche Preview: Game Notes, Lineups, And More

The Pittsburgh Penguins will begin a three-game Western road swing on Tuesday when they take on the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.

And it will be the first time Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Avalanche star forward Nathan MacKinnon will face each other since playing together at the 4 Nations Face-off for Team Canada.

“I’m sure that was a thrill for both of them,” said Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, who coached Team USA at 4 Nations. “They’re two of the most exciting players in the game, and they’re fierce competitors. So, it’s always exciting that we have generational talents like Sid and Nate that have an opportunity to play against one another.

“And – just given the relationship that they have, as close as they are off the ice – I’m sure they also have a competitive spirit that they want to get the best of each other. And that’s part of the competitive spirit that makes them what they are.”

Crosby and MacKinnon combined for five goals and nine points in four games at the 4 Nations Face-off, and both are having great years for their respective teams. They are each also approaching key milestones in their NHL careers:

   – Crosby has 65 points in 61 games played this season and needs just 15 more points to secure his 20th consecutive point-per-game season, which would break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 19.
     – MacKinnon enters Tuesday just 10 points shy of 1,000 points for his NHL career.

“Anytime you see guys up close and how hard they work – and how much they put into it – you want to see them get rewarded,” Crosby said of MacKinnon. “He’s somebody that’s continued to want to get better every single year. He cares a lot, and it’s good for him to be rewarded.

“I mean, he’s produced at a pretty incredible pace here over the last number of years, and to be 10 away… yeah, I’m sure he’s pretty happy about that.”

In other news, the Penguins will start goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic in the wake of some changes at the NHL level for the position. Goaltender Tristan Jarry was recalled Monday from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) – Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate – and rookie Joel Blomqvist was re-assigned to WBS.

Also, defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok – claimed off waivers by the Penguins from the Utah Hockey Club on Feb. 9 – appears to finally be getting a crack at the lineup. He skated on the third pairing with Vincent Desharnais at practice on Wednesday morning, and the Penguins are eager to see what the 23-year-old defenseman can bring to the table.

“He appears to be a pretty good puck mover,” Sullivan said. “I think he can help us there. He’s got good size, he skates pretty well… I think he has a better understanding now of how we’re trying to play from a tactical standpoint. We feel more comfortable with where he’s at with respect to that.

“We think he’s a young player that has potential here. We’ve liked what we’ve seen. The challenge is that we haven’t had a lot of practices, so it’s not like we’ve had an opportunity to see him multiple times in a game-like environment. But we like what we’ve seen from Vlad so far.”

Here is the rest of the Penguins projected lineup for Tuesday’s game:

Colorado won the first matchup between the two teams this season, 6-2, on Dec. 10. The Penguins have won six of their last 10 games against the Avalanche, and they have scored four or more goals in six of those 10 as well.

The Avalanche are currently in the first wild card spot in the West, and they are 6-4 in their last 10 games. They’ve won their last two games against the New Jersey Devils and the Minnesota Wild, outscoring their opponents 10-3 in those games.

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