Jeff Carter Scores Twice in Penguins Win Over Avalanche
The Pittsburgh Penguins got a big game from one of the least likely candidates.
Carrying a four-game losing streak, the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to have their work cut out for them to try and find the win column.
The Penguins traveled without four of their regular defensemen to take on the Colorado Avalanche, who are dealing with their own string of injuries.
Despite multiple important pieces out of the lineup, the Avalanche were looking to extend one of the hottest streaks in the NHL.
The Avalanche welcomed the Penguins to Ball Arena while looking to extend a six-game winning streak into seven.
Through the first period, it was a fairly even matchup where both goalies proved they came to play.
Both Tristan Jarry and Alexandar Georgiev faced 10 shots and they saved each of them.
The Penguins needed to have a strong start to the second period to swing the momentum into their favor and that’s exactly what they did.
Sidney Crosby picked up his 30th goal of the season with a patented backhand shot that beat Georgiev over his shoulder.
With his good buddy Nathan MacKinnon on the other side of the ice, Crosby loves to elevate his game.
Not long after, the Penguins had a 5-on-3 advantage that they took full advantage of with a goal from Jake Guentzel.
A shot from Evgeni Malkin was stopped by Georgiev, but Guentzel batted the rebound out of mid air for his team-leading 31st of the season.
The Avalanche pulled within a goal after a bad giveaway from Kris Letang, but the Penguins had an answer.
With the second power play unit on the ice, Jeff Carter potted his first goal in almost a month and 10th of the season.
For the second straight period, the Penguins ended the period while on the penalty kill, but they were playing well enough to hold a 3-1 lead into the third period.
The Penguins were carrying all of the momentum heading into the final frame, and it was up to them to capitalize and maintain the two-goal lead.
Through the opening five minutes, the Penguins were getting the upper-hand with an 8-1 lead in shots to open the frame.
A bad penalty for the Penguins to take allowed the Avalanche to start their crawl back into the contest.
While trailing in shots 40-24, the Avalanche picked up a power play goal to again pull themselves within one.
The Penguins pushed their lead back to two with a goal from the unlikely duo of Carter and Brian Dumoulin.
A shot from Dumoulin was perfectly redirected by Carter for his second tally of the game.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar pulled his goalie for the extra attacker with just under five minutes to play and applied pressure to the Penguins.
With that amount of time, Jarry made a pair of attempts to score goal himself but they both flew wide.
Bryan Rust finally found the empty cage to give the Penguins a 5-2 victory.
A massive win in the first half of a back-to-back situation was a full-team effort and pushed the Penguins back into a postseason spot.
There isn't a lot of regular season left, but the Penguins needed that win against a very tough opponent.
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