DENVER _ As good as the Penguins have been without Sidney Crosby these past two months, they are bound to run into a high-powered club that will simply outman them. Friday at Pepsi Center, it looked like this was that night.
But Matt Murray had another solid start, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust both lit the lamp again and Jared McCann scored in overtime as the Penguins defeated Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, at Pepsi Center.
The Penguins looked to have a win locked up before overtime. But with the Colorado net empty and 30.4 seconds left in regulation, Matt Calvert, parked in front, redirected Cale Makar's blast from the point past Murray.
In overtime, McCann took a pass from Teddy Blueger and flicked a shot toward Pavel Francouz, who let the puck get through him for the game-winner.
Murray was razor sharp early on, looking more like the confident kid who backstopped the Penguins in two Cup-clinching wins. On Colorado's first shot, a slapper from the left circle, he aggressively stepped outside of blue paint, was square to the shooter and coolly pinned the puck to his chest protector.
He stayed with MacKinnon as MacKinnon sliced through the Pittsburgh defense and slid across to cut off MacKinnon's low shot. Murray also turned aside a point-blank shot from Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon's talented linemate.
The Avalanche finally got one past Murray with 5:22 left in the first. With Evgeni Malkin in the box, MacKinnon bombed a one-timer from the left circle.
MacKinnon may be the baddest dude on the planet right now, at least with Sidney Crosby still not playing due to injury. Crosby intently watched from high up in the press box Friday as MacKinnon, his good buddy and offseason training partner, at times skated through the Penguins like a man amongst actual penguins.
Two minutes after MacKinnon scored, Evgeni Malkin chipped a loose puck over Francouz. But the goal was waved off as Bryan Rust was in the goalie's lap. Other than that, the Penguins didn't muster much offense in that period.
They hung around, though, and seconds after their power play ended, a pass from John Marino nicked a stick and fluttered to Blueger. He put a shot past the glove of Francouz to tie it up, 1-1, with 6:31 left in the second period.
But the Avalanche would soon regain the lead with a fluky goal on Murray.
With nowhere to go as the Penguins stacked their blue line, Landeskog flipped the puck from the neutral zone on goal. Murray sat back, waiting for it to come to him. It hit the ice just outside the crease and hopped over his left pad. The goalie, after plopping onto his backside, glanced at the heavens in disbelief.
Murray had a strong response a minute into the third period. He kicked out Landeskog's tip-in try, sending the Penguins the other way. After two Avalanche defenders took each other out, Rust beat Francouz to make it 2-2.
That was his 18th goal, tying a single-season career high. It's still January.
Meanwhile, with an assist on Rust's game-tying goal, Malkin tied Jaromir Jagr for third place on Pittsburgh's all-time assist list with 640 for his career.
With 4:17 left in the third period, Malkin pulled in a pass from Dominik Kahun and snapped a shot under Francouz's glove to put the Penguins in the lead.
Calvert sent the game into OT, but McCann got them out of here with a win.
Friday was only Murray's fifth start in five weeks. His most recent start was six days ago, a 3-2 win in Montreal. Entering Friday, he had won two starts in a row with a .921 save percentage, giving hope his game was on the upswing.
The Avalanche, on paper, shaped up to be the perhaps toughest test for Murray since Tristan Jarry wrestled the starting gig away from him in December.
With a stretch of six games in 10 days looming for the Penguins, Murray might get a couple more starts before the All-Star break.
Friday's win was Pittsburgh's fourth straight win on the road and seventh in the past eight games.
The Penguins held off the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3, on Tuesday to win the first game on this week-long road trip. The final one is Sunday in Arizona.
