• Who: Penguins (35-19-16) vs. Avalanche (46-13-10)
• What: NHL regular season, Game 71
• When: 7:08 p.m.
• Where: PPG Paints Arena
• Goaltenders: Arturs Silovs (16-9-8, .894 SV%) vs. Scott Wedgewood (25-5-6, .916 SV%)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
• Stream: SNP360 (local), ESPN+ (national)
• Radio: Penguins Radio Network
• Satellite: SiriusXM 91
• Boxscore: NHL.com
• Media notes: Penguins | Avalanche
► FOLLOW ALONG
• That’s that. Ottawa on Thursday.
• GOAL: Empty-netter. Avalanche 6, Penguins 2
• GOAL: Hey, something happened. Rickard Rakell cuts the lead to three goals. Sidney Crosby set him up. Avalanche 5, Penguins 2
• (I’m starting to write, this isn’t changing)
• Nothing on the power play.
• Penguins have a 5-on-3 for 1:03 after Josh Manson got called for tripping (only because slide tackling isn’t a call). They use their timeout before it starts.
• Penguins get a power play. Next goal is huge?
• Third period is underway, finally.
• End of the second. Penguins trail, 5-1. Shots are 21-17 Avalanche.
• GOAL: Martin Necas with his second of the game off a rebound. Avalanche 5, Penguins 1
• The full double minor comes to an end. Big missed opportunity.
• Penguins get a power play with 11:35 left. Nazem Kadri high-sticked Tommy Novak. Four-minute double minor.
• No goal. Goaltender interference. I mean, it sure looks like Devon Toews pushed Justin Brazeau. But who knows anymore.
• Avalanche are challenging for goaltender interference.
• GOAL: Justin Brazeau makes it a two-goal game, puts in the rebound from a Ryan “Bubble Boy” Shea shot. Scott Wedgewood got up throwing his arms up like he thought there was goalie interference because he lost his stick, but no. Avalanche 4, Penguins 2
• When Evgeni Malkin was asked earlier in the season for his thoughts on moving to wing, he did say that he’d play goal if they asked him to. It’s worth a try at this point.
• Not much of anything from either side in the first five minutes of this period. Which, really, is an improvement.
• Arturs Silovs is still in net to start the second.
• Hey, it’s Taylor. I’m taking over the entries here for the rest of the game. If you’re checking in here late, Dejan’s first-period entries are below.
• GOAL. Yikes. Now Kelly from a severe angle. Silovs was all the way back in the net. My God. Embarrassing beyond words. Avalanche, 4-1
• GOAL. Silovs beaten center of the net again. Power-play one-timer by Necas. Embarrassing. Three goals on 12 shots. It’s AHL goaltending. Avalanche, 3-1
• GOAL. Yep. There it is. Yet another long-range floater, this one by Malinski. Time: 16:24, first period. Can’t win like this. Avalanche, 2-1
• Chinakhov with the backchecks, the takeaways and now with a shove to the back of Kelly after the whistle. Doing it all.
• Man, Brazeau’s just not making anything happen.
• Home team looks good. Maybe get a save or two tonight, and see how that goes.
• The goal’s the 17th for Chinakhov, a career high. Letang’s assist marks his 800th point. Really nice spontaneous ovation for Letang on that. Knowledgeable crowd. He raises his glove in recognition.
• GOAL. More goodness from Chinakhov. One-time, half-raised slap shot from the blue line beats Wedgewood, who isn’t happy about it. Assists: Girard, Letang. Time: 8:09, first period. Tie, 1-1
• GOAL. MacKinnon takes the puck from Wotherspoon at the left point and has a stirringly easy time beating Silovs — center of the net — on the battling breakaway. Could’ve used at least an ATTEMPT at a save there. Unassisted. Time: 4:50, first period. Avalanche, 1-0
• Soderblom finds Novak alone in front … can’t beat Wedgewood.
• Wonderful opening shift for Chinakhov. Home team looks sharp, in general.
• Faceoff: Sid vs. MacKinnon, 7:08 p.m.
• All lines and pairings are now official.
• Dan Muse’s expected lines and pairings:
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Anthony Mantha
Justin Brazeau-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard – Kris Letang
Ryan Shea – Connor Clifton
• There’ll be a full morning skate today, 10:30 a.m., up in Cranberry, Pa. Taylor Haase will cover. I’ll add the Penguins’ expected lines/pairings here after that.
• Jared Bednar’s expected lines and pairings, based on the Avalanche’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Capitals two days ago in Washington:
Gabe Landeskog-Nate MacKinnon-Martin Nečas
Valeri Nichushkin-Brock Nelson-Nazem Kadri
Parker Kelly-Jack Drury-Joel Kiviranta
Zakhar Bardakov-Nicolas Roy-Gavin Brindley
Brett Kulak-Cale Makar
Devon Toews-Sam Malinski
Josh Manson-Brent Burns
