Avs overcome Crosby’s natural hat-trick
DENVER: Gabriel Landeskog broke a tie with a goal at 10:05 of the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Wednesday night in Denver.
Nathan Mackinnon had a goal and three assists for his sixth straight multi-point game, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists to extend his Nhl-high point total to 42. Mackinnon ranks second in the NHL with 41 points. Samuel Girard, Erik Johnson, Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg scored goals for Colorado, which has won six in a row and eight of nine.
Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby put on a show with his first hat trick of the season — a natural hat trick tallied in a span of just 5:35 — but it wasn’t enough. He has 11 hat tricks in his career.
Crosby’s third goal came 4:43 into the third to wipe away Colorado’s lead, but Landeskog got the winner when his shot went off the stick of defenseman Juuso Riikola and past goalie Tristan Jarry midway through the third period.
Meanwhile, Nick Ritchie’s timing has proved to be good for the Anaheim Ducks the past two games.
Ritchie broke a tie with 1:28 left with his second goal of the game, John Gibson made 42 saves and the Ducks beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Ritchie grabbed a loose puck in front and beat goalie James Reimer to the right side. Ritchie also scored the winning goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 win at Tampa Bay.