• Who: Penguins (33-18-15) vs. Avalanche (44-12-9)
• What: NHL regular season, Game 67
• When: 9:50 p.m. Eastern
• Where: Ball Arena
• Goaltenders: Arturs Silovs (14-9-8, .891 SV%) vs. Scott Wedgewood (25-4-5, .918 SV%)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, ESPN
• Stream: SNP360 (local), ESPN+ (out-of-market)
• Radio: Penguins Radio Network
• Satellite: SiriusXM 91
• Boxscore: NHL.com
• Media notes: Penguins | Avalanche
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Ballgame. My God.
• Nothing left but Penguins fans in here. Have I mentioned that they really hate this in Denver?
• GOAL. Acciari fulfills Taylor’s pregame prophecy. Assist: Soderblom. Time: 9:06, third period. Penguins, 7-2
• Excellent glove save by Silovs. Right in tight, he’s so, so tough to beat. He’s been good here.
• Third’s underway.
• Uh, the Avs have stopped skating. Sure didn’t see this part coming. Just asked a Denver-based reporter here, and they said they hadn’t seen something like this all winter here.
• GOAL. Rust on a power-play breakaway. Five-hole. That’s six goals on 14 shots for the visitors, and I can’t think of a bad goal among them. What a night. Penguins, 6-2
• Silovs takes a tripping penalty.
• GOAL. Karlsson shot it from the right point, and it deflected in off Malinski. Three points for him. Unassisted. Time: 10:36, second period. Penguins, 5-2
• Rare shot by Solovyov. Just took a wrister. Might’ve blasted it. So much room. Easy for me to say from up here, though.
• Rare giveaway by Solovyov. Novak comes back to bail him out. Just plain old mishandled the puck.
• A fine kill, particularly by Rust and Acciari.
• Sharp save by Silovs, point-blank on Necas. But a holding penalty on Mantha.
• Second’s underway.
• That’s period. Avalanche had 17 shots to the Penguins’ seven. Both of those need to change dramatically, or this lead won’t last long at all.
• Plainly, Avalanche know Silovs isn’t at his best on the long shots. Everything’s being flicked now from any distance.
• Two really obvious Colorado penalties ignored. Can see it’s ticking off the visitors down there.
• GOAL. Nelson on a tip in front. He’s still an Islander. Assists: Burns, Grindley. Time: 14:21, first period. Penguins, 4-2
• GOAL. Soderblom. Karlsson does well to get the puck through. Bang with the rebound. His first in a Pittsburgh sweater. Maybe change goalies again? This is unreal. Other assist: Dewar. Time: 13:43, first period. Penguins, 4-1
• GOAL. Geno again. Wow. Mini-break for him after being set up on a smooth backhand pass from Chinakhov, two-on-one down low. Have I mentioned he’s flying? Penguins, 3-1
• This isn’t the night to just be handing the puck away. These guys are on you so fast.
• That’s a kill … by Silovs. Good side-to-side for him tonight.
• Drury’s off for a hook on Novak. Geno made that shift. Man, he’s just soaring.
• Roaring, standing ovation to welcome back Girard. … Do they want him back?
• That’s a kill.
• Koivunen’s off for a cross-check. That’s two penalties in the offensive zone already.
• GOAL. Mantha. Clean breakaway sprung by Karlsson. Sweet backhand, but he elevated this one, not his normal move. Time: 4:23, first period. Penguins, 2-1
• GOAL. MacKinnon. Right between the hashes. He’s not getting stopped there. Novak fell asleep there a little. Took no one. Time: 4:08, first period. Tie, 1-1
• GOAL. Geno … and a wow! Just like the Dewar goal that, not coincidentally worked on together, those two. Crazy backhand. Assists: Rust, Acciari. Time: 3:01, first period. Penguins, 1-0
• Geno’s off for an offensive-zone trip, just like that.
• Faceoff: Rakell vs. MacKinnon, 9:50 p.m. Eastern.
• Man, these Quebec sweaters … imagine a league that wouldn’t want this for-real.
• Plenty of black and gold, both outside and in here. Usually the case here. Even though they really, really hate it. Denver people hate having visiting fans more than anywhere in the country, regardless of sport.
• Warmups underway. No surprises.
• Dan Muse’s lines and pairings tonight:
Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin
Anthony Mantha-Rickard Rakell-Bryan Rust
Justin Brazeau-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Ilya Solovyov-Connor Clifton
• Jared Bednar’s lines and pairings tonight in an 11-7 breakdown:
Nazem Kadri-Nate MacKinnon-Martin Nečas
Nicolas Roy-Brock Nelson-Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly-Jack Drury-Joel Kiviranta
Gavin Brindley-Zakhar Bardakov-Nick Blankenburg
Devon Toews-Cale Makar
Josh Manson-Brent Burns
Brett Kulak-Sam Malinski