Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Colorado AvalancheMar 16, 2026

FinalMonday, Mar 16, 2026· Ball Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
PIT	4	2	1	7		PIT	7	8	5	20
COL	2	0	0	2		COL	17	4	6	27

: PIT 40COL 68
: PIT 2.24COL 3.39
PP goals: PIT 1COL 0
Hits: PIT 19COL 11
Blocks: PIT 19COL 12
PIM: PIT 15COL 11
: PIT 49%COL 51%

Fantasy takeaways

Generated from the play-by-play, shifts and season context. No opinions, just what changed.

Pittsburgh Penguins rout Colorado Avalanche 7–2

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Colorado Avalanche 7–2 at COL. Evgeni Malkin (PIT) led the scoring with 2G 1A. PIT's first power-play unit (Malkin, Karlsson, Rust, Rakell and Mantha) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 2:59 together.

Points
Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 3 shots in 16:18.Malkin
Points
Erik Karlsson had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 4 shots in 21:44.Karlsson
Points
Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 17:05.Rust
Points
Elmer Soderblom had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 10:00.Soderblom
Points
Noel Acciari had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 16:36.Acciari
Points
Connor Dewar had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 16:12.Dewar
PP1
PIT's first power-play unit (Malkin, Karlsson, Rust, Rakell and Mantha) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 2:59 together.Malkin Karlsson Rust Rakell Mantha
New line
New look for PIT: Malkin–Novak–Chinakhov skated 9:31 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (42.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Malkin Novak Chinakhov

Shot map

Both teams on one rink, filtered by strength and period.

Shot map

Every attempt, sized by expected goals. Goals are rings, shots on goal dots, misses hollow, blocks crosses.

Strength

Period

Team

← PIT attacks left (bottom on phones)COL attacks right (top on phones) →

COL
PIT
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 108 of 108 attempts · COL 68 · PIT 40

Game flow

Cumulative expected goals and shot attempts, with power plays shaded and goals marked.

Cumulative shot attempts

COL
PIT
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

COL pressure
PIT pressure
Goal
Control (|PI| > 0.25)

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: PIT 28% of the game, COL 47%.

Shift chart

Every shift, grouped by line and pair; bars are coloured by strength state. Click a player to highlight.

Shifts

COL

PIT

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Head-to-head matchups

COL skaters (rows) against PIT skaters (columns) at 5v5. Square size is time together; colour is xGF% from the COL side.

Matchup matrix

COL xGF% 4060square size = TOI together · blank = under 1:00

Sequence card

5-on-5 possession-chain numbers from the sequence engine (Draw Equity and control cover all situations).

Sequence card
Stat	PIT	COL
	40	65
	1.96	3.22
	1.93	3.03
	12	16
	5	2
	19	22
	+0.007	−0.007
	28%	47%

Definitions: sequence xG, transition attempts, Draw Equity, control and the Pressure Index.

Lines used

Detected from who actually shared the ice, with time together. Percentages are the unit's share of shot attempts.

Pittsburgh Penguins

L1Malkin – Novak – Chinakhov
9:3143% CF
L2Rust – Rakell – Mantha
9:1542% CF
L3Acciari – Dewar – Soderblom
8:3441% CF
L4Brazeau – Koivunen – Kindel
6:1238% CF
D1Karlsson – Wotherspoon
14:4445% CF
D2Letang – Shea
13:0035% CF
D3Clifton – Solovyov
8:1275% CF

PP1Malkin – Karlsson – Rust – Rakell – Mantha
2:59100% CF
PP2Letang – Novak – Brazeau – Chinakhov – Kindel
1:22
PK1FAcciari – Dewar
3:59
PK2FRust – Rakell
0:57
PK1DClifton – Shea
5:00
PK2DKarlsson – Wotherspoon
2:46

Current PIT line combinations →

Colorado Avalanche

L1MacKinnon – Nichushkin – Necas
14:1059% CF
L2Kadri – Nelson – Roy
7:1071% CF
L3Kelly – Drury – Kiviranta
5:4429% CF
D1Toews – Makar
10:3468% CF
D2Kulak – Malinski
10:0456% CF
D3Burns – Manson
5:3764% CF

PP1Kadri – Nelson – MacKinnon – Necas – Makar
5:36100% CF
PP2Burns – Nichushkin – Toews – Roy – Brindley
1:59100% CF
PK1FNelson – Nichushkin
1:29
PK2FKelly – Drury
1:06
PK1DToews – Makar
1:32
PK2DBurns – Manson
1:25

Current COL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

Box score

Skaters grouped by the line they played on; CF% is the 5v5 share of shot attempts while on the ice.

Pittsburgh Penguins

PIT skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Egor Chinakhov R	L1	0	1	1	0	1	0.16	0	2	0	17:09	—	—	29	21
Evgeni Malkin C	L1	2	1	3	+1	3	0.33	0	0	4	16:18	—	—	39	31
Tommy Novak C	L1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	3	0	15:29	—	—	36	37
Bryan Rust R	L2	1	1	2	+1	3	0.24	0	0	0	17:05	—	—	39	43
Rickard Rakell R	L2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.35	1	1	0	16:23	—	—	46	44
Anthony Mantha R	L2	1	0	1	0	1	0.14	0	1	2	14:57	—	—	44	48
Noel Acciari C	L3	1	1	2	+3	2	0.42	0	4	0	16:36	—	—	41	75
Connor Dewar C	L3	0	2	2	+3	1	0.08	0	2	0	16:12	—	—	40	75
Elmer Soderblom L	L3	1	1	2	+3	1	0.15	1	1	0	10:00	—	—	39	67
Ben Kindel C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	1	0	13:57	—	—	25	7
Justin Brazeau R	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.06	3	0	0	11:52	—	—	38	12
Ville Koivunen R	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	1	2	10:09	—	—	38	17
Erik Karlsson D	D1	1	2	3	+2	4	0.11	0	0	0	21:44	—	—	45	54
Parker Wotherspoon D	D1	0	1	1	+2	0	0.08	3	1	0	20:48	—	—	37	54
Ryan Shea D	D2	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	0	0	23:39	—	—	25	13
Kris Letang D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.04	1	1	0	20:14	—	—	37	24
Connor Clifton D	D3	0	0	0	+2	0	0.02	5	1	5	16:07	—	—	58	97
Ilya Solovyov D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.06	2	0	0	13:21	—	—	47	66

PIT goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Arturs Silovs(start)	W	27	25	2	.926	3.39	60:00

Colorado Avalanche

COL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Martin Necas C	L1	0	1	1	-1	2	0.28	2	0	0	24:08	—	—	59	46
Valeri Nichushkin R	L1	0	0	0	-2	0	0.17	0	0	0	22:40	—	—	59	40
Nathan MacKinnon C	L1	1	0	1	-1	4	0.25	0	2	0	22:39	—	—	59	39
Nazem Kadri C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.26	0	1	0	20:18	—	—	71	86
Brock Nelson C	L2	0	0	0	-1	3	1.10	1	1	0	20:16	—	—	68	78
Nicolas Roy C	L2	0	0	0	-2	2	0.35	1	0	2	15:28	—	—	73	84
Parker Kelly C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	3	1	2	13:45	—	—	50	65
Jack Drury C	L3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.04	0	1	7	13:31	—	—	47	53
Joel Kiviranta L	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	0	10:03	—	—	50	43
Cale Makar D	D1	0	1	1	-1	4	0.24	0	2	0	21:31	—	—	78	77
Devon Toews D	D1	0	0	0	-2	1	0.03	0	1	0	17:35	—	—	68	70
Brett Kulak D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	0	0	16:45	—	—	55	62
Sam Malinski D	D2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.06	0	1	0	15:00	—	—	54	44
Josh Manson D	D3	0	1	1	-1	1	0.08	1	2	0	16:43	—	—	50	58
Brent Burns D	D3	1	0	1	0	5	0.21	0	0	0	15:18	—	—	67	80
Nick Blankenburg D	—	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	0	0	0	11:10	—	—	57	6
Gavin Brindley C	—	0	1	1	-1	0	0.09	1	0	0	10:20	—	—	65	49
Zakhar Bardakov C	—	0	0	0	-2	0	0.24	1	0	0	8:10	—	—	67	45

COL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Mackenzie Blackwood	—	15	11	4	.733	1.60	47:00
Scott Wedgewood(start)	L	5	2	3	.400	0.63	13:00

Goal anatomy

Animated replays from NHL EDGE tracking, with the entry, passes and shot speed for each goal.

Evgeni Malkin (PIT) 1st 3:01 · assists Bryan Rust, Noel Acciari · Rush · loose puck · 40.8 mph shot · 2.8 s from entry to goal.

Evgeni Malkin · 1st 3:01 · PIT

Play: rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 40.8 mph
Distance: 22 ft
Entry to goal: 2.8 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Nathan MacKinnon · 1st 4:08 · COL

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 1-on-0
Passes: 0
Shot: 65.5 mph
Distance: 36 ft
Entry to goal: 5.2 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Anthony Mantha · 1st 4:23 · PIT

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: pass
Odd man: 1-on-0
Passes: 1
Shot: 19.4 mph
Distance: 10 ft
Entry to goal: 2.3 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Evgeni Malkin · 1st 13:00 · PIT

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 49.8 mph
Distance: 14 ft
Entry to goal: 3.1 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Elmer Soderblom · 1st 13:43 · PIT

Play: cycle
Passes: 4 (royal road)
Shot: 8.1 mph
Distance: 7 ft

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Brent Burns · 1st 14:21 · COL

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 57.5 mph
Distance: 68 ft
Entry to goal: 3.9 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Erik Karlsson · 2nd 10:36 · PIT

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 3 (royal road)
Shot: 46.0 mph
Distance: 58 ft
Entry to goal: 6.0 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Bryan Rust · 2nd 16:20 · PIT PP

Play: dump-and-chase
Entry: dump
Odd man: No
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 50.5 mph
Distance: 22 ft
Entry to goal: 2.0 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Noel Acciari · 3rd 9:06 · PIT

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 9.7 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 5.3 s
Type: rebound

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Methodology

Shot locations come from the NHL play-by-play, normalised so each shooter attacks the same way, then flipped so the home team attacks right. On-ice stats and lines come from the shift charts: a unit is the exact set of skaters sharing the ice, and CF% is the share of all shot attempts while they were out. Head-to-head cells are 5v5 time against each opponent. Expected goals and the Pressure Index appear as their models are released.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Colorado AvalancheMar 16, 2026

Fantasy takeaways

Pittsburgh Penguins rout Colorado Avalanche 7–2

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Head-to-head matchups

Matchup matrix

Sequence card

Lines used

Pittsburgh Penguins

Colorado Avalanche

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Pittsburgh Penguins

Colorado Avalanche

Goal anatomy

Evgeni Malkin · 1st 3:01 · PIT

Nathan MacKinnon · 1st 4:08 · COL

Anthony Mantha · 1st 4:23 · PIT

Evgeni Malkin · 1st 13:00 · PIT

Elmer Soderblom · 1st 13:43 · PIT

Brent Burns · 1st 14:21 · COL

Erik Karlsson · 2nd 10:36 · PIT

Bryan Rust · 2nd 16:20 · PIT PP

Noel Acciari · 3rd 9:06 · PIT