Penguins Postgame: Pens Outskated, What Happens Next?

The Pittsburgh Penguins were beaten by the Colorado Avalanche, 6-4 on Tuesday night. It wasn’t that Colorado won, it was how the President’s Trophy-leading Avalanche won.

They raced past the Penguins. At times, they made them look slow, and a little coaching tweak in the second period seemed to flip the game towards the Avalanche.

“I thought we were pretty good. Obviously, a few breakdowns there, and a team like that is going to make you pay,” Bryan Rust said. They were opportunistic. There are areas we need to clean up. But a lot of good, too.”

That was the Penguins’ take, but the 6-4 score might be a bit misleading. The Penguins scored a pair of garbage time goals to close the gap on the scoreboard. With a couple of minutes remaining, it was 5-2.

Jake Guentzel scored a late goal. Bryan Rust scored early. Evan Rodrigues and Mike Matheson also scored. The advanced stats say the Penguins vastly outplayed the Avalanche, but the eyes told a different story.

Guentzel led the Penguins with seven shots on goal.

The Pittsburgh Penguins get the New York Rangers at MSG on Thursday. Is that a must-win if the Penguins want second place? Do the Penguins really care about second place?

Paul Zeise of 93-7 the Fan had our Dan Kingerski on postgame to break it all down. Always a good time.