Avalanche at Penguins
The Colorado Avalanche will need to clamp down defensively when they begin their four-game road trip Monday against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Colorado waited until Saturday to kick off its season and outlasted Dallas 6-5 at home as Joe Colborne registered his first career hat trick in his debut with the team.
The 26-year-old center, who netted a career-high 19 tallies with Calgary last season, joined Real Cloutier (1979), Peter Stastny (1982), Dale Hunter (1983) and Paul Stastny (2007) as the only players in franchise history to score three goals in a season opener. The Avalanche cannot afford to get into an offensive slugfest with the Penguins, who are wrapping up their season-opening three-game homestand after posting 3-2 victories over Washington and Anaheim. Two-time Art Ross Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin has registered three points (one goal) over Pittsburgh's first two games while Patric Hornqvist and Conor Sheary both have recorded a tally and an assist. Captain Sidney Crosby remains out indefinitely with a concussion but has skated both with the team during practice and on his own over the past week.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, Altitude (Colorado), ROOT (Pittsburgh)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (1-0-0): Colorado received plenty of offense from its blue line on Saturday as five of its six defensemen combined to register a goal and seven points, with Tyson Barrie netting the tally and adding an assist. The outburst by Colborne, who needed 10 games to reach the three-goal mark last season, helped make Jared Bednar's NHL coaching debut a successful one. "That was a fun game. That was an exciting game. I really liked it," Bednar, who replaced Patrick Roy after spending seven campaigns as a coach in the minors, told reporters. "I enjoyed being on the bench."
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (2-0-0): Chris Kunitz became the 18th player to appear in 500 games with Pittsburgh in Saturday's victory, notching an assist for his first point of the season. The 37-year-old left wing has registered 160 of his 241 career goals and 360 of his 552 points with the Penguins. Defenseman Ian Cole, who failed to score a goal in 70 games last season, tallied on Saturday for the first time since March 26, 2015 at Carolina.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche will start Calvin Pickard in net on Monday while Semyon Varlamov will face Washington the following night.
2. Colorado went 2-for-3 on the power play on Saturday while Pittsburgh has converted two of its five opportunities over its first two games.
3. Eleven of Colorado's 18 skaters recorded a point in the opener while only three failed to register a shot on goal.