In Denver, the recently much maligned Jeff Carter hot for a double on Wednesday night to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 win over the Avalanche. 
The win ended a four-game slide for the Pens.
“I think you’ve got to be playing your best hockey when you go into the postseason,” Carter said. “Obviously, you want to be locked in as early as possible, but sometimes when you go to battle for your lives that kind of gives you a boost and you keep going with it.”
Tristan Jarry made 28 saves in the Penguins win.
“I just thought it was a solid effort, top to bottom, right through our lineup,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought guys competed hard. We were paying the price to win. I thought some of the shot blocks late in the game were an indication of the urgency, the compete that we had tonight against a really good hockey team.”
Pittsburgh improved to 35-26-10, and jumped back into the second wild spot in the Eastern Conference, one over the idle Florida Panthers.
After a scoreless first period, Sidney Crosby scored his 30th of the campaign for a -0 lead to the Pens.
“I think the most important thing for me is just try to be consistent, and if that reflects that, great,” Crosby said. “But I just love to compete and I want to be as consistent as possible. We executed pretty good. We still had some opportunities to add to the lead, and it’s one of those things that you’re trying to find that balance between staying aggressive and not taking risks and making mistakes.”
Jake Guentzel extended the lead to 2-0 in the second.
“Defending champs, coming to their building, and you know how good they are,” Guentzel said. “We got to do whatever gets points, and these are big points for us now. And we got another one big tomorrow (at the Dallas Stars), so any points are big for us right now.”
The Avalanche dropped to 41-23-6, and had their six-game win streak snapped.
The loss also kept the Avs from climbing into a three-way tie atop the Central Division with the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.
“It’s a big moment for our team, right? We have a chance to go first in the division, so we knew they were going to play with urgency,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Twelve games left, sitting out of the spot by one point, I think. But I didn’t feel like there’s any reason why we couldn’t either. There’s advantages to finishing first, and that’s what we’re trying to track down. It’s an opportunity for us tonight. We didn’t get it done. Hopefully we get another one.”
Colorado got one back off a strike from J.T. Compher for a 2-1 score, but Carter hit for his first of the night to push the lead back to two for the Penguins at 3-1 headed to the third period.
“If you look at the first goal we got, we just laid it in and went to work on the forecheck, turned the puck over, bang bang it was in the back of the net. But we didn’t do it enough,” Bednar said. “I felt like we got a little bit stubborn. You got to trust our guys’ skill and their ability to make plays off the rush, but when it’s not working, I thought we could turn the page a little bit earlier to get on the attack, using our legs on the forecheck, and trying to get some o-zone time.”
Devon Toews scored off the power play midway through the third period to trim the deficit to 3-2 for the Avs, but Carter hit his double two and half minutes later for a 4-2 advantage.
“It’s unbelievable,” Guentzel said. “You just want to see guys produce and do well. Obviously, two huge goals by ‘Carts’ there. Just an unbelievable pass by ‘Dumo’ on that one. So four lines contributing today, and that’s what it takes.”
Bryan Rust added a late empty-net goal for the 5-2 final.
Alexandar Georgiev made 40 saves in the Avs loss.
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