High flying Pittsburgh Penguins look for fifth straight win when they face Colorado Avalanche - NHL Preview
Pittsburgh Penguins will look to continue their recent run of good results when they travel to Colorado to face Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Saturday, March 3, 2012.
The Penguins will be looking to take home both points and move up into second in the Eastern Conference.
Pittsburgh is currently fourth in the conference with 79 points and equal on points with second placed Boston Bruins and will look to make it five straight wins in a row on Saturday.
Colorado on the other hand will be a tough test on the road for Pittsburgh.
Barring a shocking result last time out to the Columbus Blue Jackets against whom the Avalanche were shutout for a 2-0 loss, Colorado has been in good form at home ice and will be ready to bounce back into winning form.
The Avalanche were on a four game winning run before getting upset by the league worst Blue Jackets.
Colorado remains outside the playoff spots after that loss, as they lie 10th in the Western Conference trailing eighth placed Dallas Stars by three points.
Penguins (37-21-5, 79 pts)
Things could not have been going much better for a red hot Pittsburgh side as they continue to perform brilliantly in offence.
Forward Evgeni Malkin’s form combined with a well oiled offensive line has kept the Penguins in the top four of the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins have their eyes set on entering breaking the top two and will be confident of winning on the road to an inconsistent Colorado Avalanche side.
Malkin will be the key to any Penguins victory as he remains the top scorer for the franchise with 37 goals this season.
Pittsburgh are on a four game winning run with their last game ending in a shootout victory over Dallas Stars.
The Penguins came back into the game from 2-1 down to take the lead in the third period but the Stars managed to equalise and send the game to overtime.
It took a tense shootout to separate the two teams and Penguins coach Dan Bylsma was impressed with his side’s mental strength.
"I liked the response from our team. We came out hard and played well in the third period."
Avalanche (33-28-4, 70 pts)
Colorado could have been in the playoff spots by now but for their Thursday night shocker against Columbus Blue Jackets.
No one had given the Blue Jackets any chance of coming out on top over a high flying Avalanche side yet they pulled of a brilliant result to spoil the Avalanche’s bid to make it into the playoffs.
Now trailing eighth spot by three points, Colorado will be looking to get back to winning ways starting with Pittsburgh.
Left wing Gabriel Landeskog said after the loss.
"It's frustrating for sure. We definitely weren't ready to play. I don't know what the reason was, but we weren't sharp enough. We were chasing the game after the first period."
Predictions
Pittsburgh will win the game given their great form.
Goals will be in big supply as both offences are on a roll.
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