Avalanche rally past Penguins 5-2 as MacKinnon posts 3 assists and a goal

DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and a power-play goal, Artturi Lehkonen scored twice and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Friday night.

T.J. Hughes scored his first NHL goal, while Mackenzie Blackwood settled in after a shaky start to stop 29 shots.

Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead after scoring 29 seconds apart midway through the first period. The Avalanche erupted for five straight tallies, including three in the second period.

Colorado finished 1 of 4 on the power play in the Avalanche debut of assistant coach Brett McLean. He’s in charge of the unit after Dave Hakstol left to take over as head coach of the men’s hockey program at Arizona State.

Lehkonen’s second goal tied it 25 seconds into the second period. Captain Gabriel Landeskog had a goal nearly four minutes later for his 83rd career go-ahead score. He’s tied with Mikko Rantanen for sixth-most in Avalanche history. Hall of Famer Joe Sakic tops the list with 210.

Hughes got free down low and poked in a pass from MacKinnon. He was hugged by Cale Makar and then playfully squirted with water by Landeskog as Hughes made his way past the bench.

Sidney Crosby notched his 1,110th career assist to move into sole possession of seventh place in NHL history. He’s also one assist shy of matching Ray Bourque (1,111 with Boston) for the most in league history with a one franchise.

BRUINS 4, DUCKS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Elias Lindholm assisted on the tying goal and scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, leading Boston past Anaheim for its fourth straight victory.

David Pastrnak scored a tying power-play goal and Frederic Brunet got his first NHL goal for the Bruins, who roared back from an early two-goal deficit and improved to 6-2-0.

Less than five minutes after Pastrnak converted a give-and-go with Lindholm, the Ducks failed to mark Lindholm during a power play and allowed him to tap in a pass from Pavel Zacha with 11:39 to play. Matthew Poitras added another goal with 3:40 left on James Hagens’ second assist of the night.

Michael DiPietro made 25 saves in his second start of the season for the Bruins.

Beckett Sennecke got his fifth goal and Tim Washe also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight home games while giving up 13 goals. Lukas Dostal stopped 18 shots.

Ducks captain Mikael Granlund sat out with an upper-body injury, and goal-scoring winger Cutter Gauthier filled in by moving to center for the first time in his NHL career.

The Associated Press