Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Colorado Avalanche 3/16/2026

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (33-18-15, 81 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ Colorado Avalanche (44-12-9, 97 points, 1st place Central Division)

When: 9:30 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, streaming on ESPN+

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Pens’ Path Ahead: The end of the road trip is within sight, the Pens return to Raleigh on Wednesday for one more game after tonight, then on Thursday/Friday the team gets their only two non-game days of March before things pick back up with a weekend afternoon homestand against Winnipeg on Saturday and those familiar Hurricanes on Sunday.

Opponent Track: Colorado is 5-2-0 in the last seven games, but by their standards it’s not been going tremendously well lately. They’ve lost two out of their last three games, including a 3-1 loss in Winnipeg on Saturday in the most recent outing. In the last five games, the Avs are only 3-2-0 with two of those wins coming in shootout decisions, it hasn’t been the most convincing last 7-10 days for them.

Season Series: The Avalanche make their yearly visit to Pittsburgh next Tuesday (March 24th) to complete the two-game set.

Hidden Stat: The 81 points the Penguins have in the standings in 66 games has already surpassed the 80 that they recorded in 2024-25.

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Getting to know the Avalanche

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Nazem Kadri – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas

Joel Kiviranta – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin

Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Nicolas Roy

Zakhar Bardakov – Gavin Brindley

DEFENSEMEN

Devon Toews / Cale Makar

Josh Manson / Brent Burns

Brett Kulak / Sam Malinski

Nick Blankenburg

Goalies: Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood

Potential scratches: none

Injured Reserve: Logan O’Connor, Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen

• Dare you say it, but right now just might be a good time to face Colorado. Recent injuries to Landeskog and Lehkonen have thrown the team into a bit of disarray from having nice supporting pieces removed. O’Connor has missed all season so far coming off hip surgery. All three are expected back before playoffs, moving the already formidable lineup above into juggernaut territory.

• The lack of that depth has resorted to the Avs virtually rolling three lines in their last game, Bardakov only skated six shifts all game (for 3:48 total ice time) and Brindley only got sent out for seven shifts (5:26 played on the night). The Pens should definitely plan on seeing a heavy batch of MacKinnon, Necas, Nichushkin, Nelson and Kadri; all five of those workhorse forwards logged between 22-26 minutes in Saturday’s game against the Jets (not to mention Makar logging 25 minutes, as per usual).

• Kadri has one goal, one assist (plus a shootout goal) in his second stint of duty in Colorado after being picked up at the recent trade deadline. Prior to now, the last time he was in an Avs sweater was skating with the Stanley Cup in 2022. Undoubtedly the Avs are hoping the reunion will produce the same results this year.

• Brent Burns skated in his 990th straight game on Saturday, passing Keith Yandle for the second longest ironman streak ever. First place remains Phil Kessel (1,064 games, and I guess technically still kinda active since I don’t believe Kessel has ever formally bothered to submit his retirement paperwork — a truly classic Phil move). Burns, who turned 41 last week, is the oldest current NHL player. His career is so long he played in an NHL world that didn’t have a salary cap back in 2003-04. Burns is still looking for his elusive first drink out of the Stanley Cup.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• The man they call The Dogg is in top form these days. It’s tough to believe the 30-year old MacKinnon doesn’t have an Art Ross scoring title under his belt in his career considering he’s scored 111, 140 and 116 points in the last three seasons. Thus is the burden of living in the era of Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov. 2025-26 could finally be MacKinnon’s time, though he has some work to do. McDavid has 114 points, MacKinnon is behind him at 109 — and Kucherov isn’t too far behind them with 106 points of his own. It looks like that should be the familiar three-man race for the scoring title over the last few weeks of the season. MacKinnon did win the Hart and Ted Lindsay MVP trophies in 2024, he’s making a very strong case to be in contention for that again this season. No matter how one parses the word “value”, MacKinnon certainly either No. 1 or a close No. 2 in terms of being the most dynamic offensive players in the game today by any definition.

• Kulak has been on the ice for six 5v5 goals for and zero 5v5 goals against in his Colorado stint following the trade from Pittsburgh. A lot of Penguin fans, understandably and reasonably, were happy that the Avs tossed in a future second round pick in the trade that sent Kulak west for Sam Girard. While it may be a high price (in part to include the benefit of clearing Girard’s $5.0 million cap hit off Colorado’s books after they found a suitable replacement in Sam Malinski), the Kulak add for Colorado might be a sneaky good one come playoff time and one that Colorado was better off making in the short-term.

• The stars in Colorado will catch your eye, but keep a look out for No. 17 Parker Kelly. The undrafted 26-year old has set a single-season high in goals, assists and points with modest enough totals but he is pushing towards a 20-goal season. Kelly won’t stand out every game but is one of the ‘common players’ that adds to a great team as far as a depth option who can flash at times and help move the needle. The big boys will be counted on to lead the way but players like Kelly, Kulak and Ross Colton will be invaluable if the Avs go on a deep playoff run.

Key to the Game: Yeah…Um, good luck

The Colorado offense this year is in a class by themselves in terms of both top-of-class process and results to match, a truly impressive machine. MacKinnon’s relentlessly dominant personality has rubbed off on the club that plays extremely hard and piles up the scoring chances and goals. It presents a monster for any opponent to try and deal with, the Pens will definitely have their work cut out for them tonight no matter how you slice it.

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To make matters worse — as if you could even make matters worse from that — the Dallas Stars have won four-straight games to get within three points of the Avs (though Colorado does have a game in hand). As noted above, the Avs haven’t been particularly impressive over the last week or so, they definitely have a lot to play for tonight to build momentum and maintain their lead in the ridiculously competitive Central Division that houses COL, DAL and the Minnesota Wild as three teams that rank in the top-5 currently in points in the whole league. Colorado won’t want to fall into that first round 2 vs. 3 slugfest, so they ought to have every incentive tonight to grab the two points.

This should be a game that to the world the Penguins lose more often than not. They’re on the road, mired in a long trip, somewhat depleted and going up against a stacked opponent that has been the NHL’s top team all season long. In that way, there’s a freeing element where there’s almost nothing to lose. Might as well go out there, give it a best effort and see how the game unfolds.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines 

FORWARDS

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Anthony Mantha – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust

Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin

Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ilya Solovyov / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner

Potential Scratches: Sam Girard (injured), Ryan Graves (AHL conditioning stint), Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau (out injured week to week), Alex Alexeyev

IR: Sidney Crosby, Filip Hallander, Jack St. Ivany (conditioning stint)

• Evgeni Malkin is back! We’re taking a wild stab at the lines, the Pens didn’t practice yesterday during their travels to Denver, so we’ll see how things might look on the ice during the gameday skate. An important note to keep in mind is that Ville Koivunen was recalled under emergency conditions, unless there’s been an additional and yet unannounced injury to an NHL forward, those emergency conditions now no longer exist since Malkin returns from suspension. The Pens could easily elect to move Koivunen’s recall to a normal one instead of an emergency (and thereby use one of their five post-deadline recalls) and keep him, elsewise they will have to send Koivunen back to the AHL today.

• Also unknown is whether or not Crosby and/or Girard can get back into the lineup following their respective injuries. Crosby will be four weeks post-incident on Wednesday – with an important notation he did not begin to formally rehab his knee for a few days after that as he attempted to play a few days later and then traveled back to Pittsburgh following the injury. Crosby has been skating in recent game day skates, there’s been no official announcement of when he is going to be cleared for contact and then make a return, so we’ll wait and see for now.

King Karl

I really don’t think you can credit Erik Karlsson enough for his impact, game control and at times being the sole spark of offense for the Penguins over the five games that both Crosby and Malkin have been out. It’s not to say Karlsson has been the singular player to come through — Anthony Mantha, Bryan Rust and Egor Chinakhov also have been making major impacts lately, just a matter of Karlsson’s own skills rising to the forefront. The team has lost two big stars, yet they still have had one elite player able to raise his game in their absence. The Pens have needed Karlsson in this stretch more than ever, he’s held up his end of the bargain by being incredibly active and productive.