With the Penguins in the midst of an offensive outburst, scoring 18 goals over the last four games, general manager Jim Rutherford chose to upgrade the team’s defense at Monday’s trade deadline.
It was the offense, though, that faltered as Semyon Varlamov and the Colorado Avalanche shut down the Penguins in Denver on Wednesday en route to a 3-1 victory.
The Penguins offense never seemed to get untracked and they mustered just 29 shots on Varlamov, who earned his 20th win of the season.
After a scoreless first period, former Penguins forward Jarome Iginla got the Avalanche on the board with a slapshot on the power play just 13 seconds into the second frame. It was Iginla’s 20th goal of the season. Gabriel Landeskog and Tyson Barrie assisted.
Nathan MacKinnon added the eventual game-winner at 14:29 of the second period when he redirected Jan Hejda’s shot behind Marc-Andre Fleury and it just trickled across the line into the Penguins net. Landeskog got the secondary assist.
Evgeni Malkin made things interesting when he scored an unassisted goal after collecting his own blocked shot at 9:45 of the third period, but Landeskog would score a back-breaker for his third point of the night at 14:57 of the third period to put the Penguins away.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Penguins. The Pens now trail the New York Islanders and New York Rangers, who are tied for first place, by four points. The Penguins have two games in hand on the Islanders.
The Pens will continue their four game western road trip with another 10:00 p.m. start in Anaheim on Friday against the Ducks.
Photo credit: NHL
