Jarry, Penguins blank Avs, 4-0 Avs' streaks end in loss

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In Pittsburgh, the Colorado Avalanche were shut out in their first loss of the season, 4-0. The loss also ended an NHL record 15 straight road wins.

“I didn’t feel like we were sleeping or anything,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I just felt like for the first 40 minutes, they were on point, physical, highly competitive. We didn’t execute through that at all.

“In fact, we tried to execute through it instead of simplifying our game and getting pucks in behind their defensemen.”

Tristan Jarry made 31 saves in the shutout.

Reilly Smith hit for a double in the first period to set the stage for the win.

“I thought this might have been one of the best games we’ve played all year from a structure standpoint,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we were able to create a lot of offense off our defense. I think that’s going to be an important element of our game moving forward.”

The Pens took the 2-0 lead into the second period.

“It seems like almost all the time, teams that are in the playoffs around Thanksgiving are the teams that are in there at the end of the season,” Smith said. “You can’t fall too far behind because it’s so hard to make up games.”

Lars Eller pushed the Pens lead to 3-0 in the middle frame.

Sidney Crosby scored midway through the third period for the 4-0 final score.

“The leadership we have in here, it’s unexplainable,” Jarry said. “The guys we have every night, they’re pushing us. They’re pushing us to be at our best and I think that elevates the whole team.”

Alexandar Georgiev got the start for the Avs, and surrendered four goals while making 16 saves.

“We’re going to have more of these, probably. Obviously, we don’t want to,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “We just have to learn from this and move on. … They played a hard game. I just don’t think we played up to our standards tonight in terms of playing fast and hard.

“It’s a learning lesson for all the new guys. We’re going to lose at some point.”

He was given the hook in the third period.

Ivan Prosvetov made five saves in a mop up role.