Kris Letang stuns Avalanche in overtime to help Penguins win 2-1

Kris Letang netted the winner against Avalanche as the Penguins got back to winning ways. Letang was the hero who put the Penguins back in the win column after the all-star break. It’s been a rocky road so far for both the Avalanche and the Penguins.

Heading into Tuesday night’s clash, both teams were just barely afloat in the NHL playoff picture. After only winning five of their final 16 games heading into the All-Star break, the Penguins were desperate to get back to their winning ways.

Both teams started out the first period scoreless. Nathan MacKinnon nearly took the zeros off the board for the Avalanche when he fired a wrister that went past Casey DeSmith but bounced off the cross-bar.

DeSmith would have to stand on his head for the Penguins in the first period, as in the first 14 minutes, the Avalanche outshot the Penguins 11-1. With six minutes left in the 1st, DeSmith made a sprawling save on Mikko Rantanen that kept it scoreless heading to the break.

The Penguins turned on the heat in the second period

Halfway through the second period, the Avalanche broke through. On a 4-on-4 opportunity due to a hooking call on Jake Guentzel on a Penguins power play, Nathan MacKinnon was left with open ice to circle around the Penguins' net and fire a shot on goal past the Penguins netminder. It was 1-0 to Avalanche with 9:39 left in the second.

The second period ended there as the Penguins furiously rallied but were unable to get anything past the Avalanche’s Pavel Francouz.

Casey DeSmith stayed hot despite the given goal, as through 47 minutes of game time, the Penguins netminder saved 32 of 33 shots, including a point-blank one-time from J.T. Compher with more than half of the third frame left.

After a flurry of shots from the Pens, the wall finally broke. With Francouz out of the net after diving at a loose puck, Jason Zucker fired it wide of the net, which was picked up by Evgeni Malkin and thrown to the front of the net where the puck bounced off of Bryan Rust’s skate and caromed around multiple limbs and past the sprawling Avs goalie. The goal was credited to Rust, and the score was 1-1 with 3 minutes left in regulation.

Letang also helped put the Avalanche goalie out of position. Letang, trailing the play, made a pass to Evgeni Malkin to which Francouz made a desperate save. Crosby then scrambled for the puck and found Letang in the slot, who slammed it home.

The Penguins finished the job in the extra frame. After ferociously killing off an Avalanche power play and a mad scramble for the puck that left the Avalanche defenders out of position, Kris Letang ended the game with a wrist shot that went between a diving Francouz’s legs. Letang's goal 3:36 into OT made the final score 2-1.

The Penguins move to 25-16-9 and will look to maintain their position as the second wild card team in the East, while the Avalanche took a consolation point that will move them up to the second wild card with a record of 27-18-4.