Colorado Avalanche at Pittsburgh Penguins

Rantanen records hat trick in 600th game and adds two assists as the Avalanche drill Pittsburgh 6-2

Rantanen, playing in his 600th game, flipped in a puck over Tristan Jarry late in the first period, beat Jarry from in close early in the second and added an empty netter in the third.

Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and four assists for Colorado. Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for the Avalanche.

Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for Colorado to win for the third time in four starts. Goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood, acquired in a deal with San Jose on Monday, was scratched due to an illness.

Michael Bunting scored his seventh goal for Pittsburgh. Cody Glass collected his first of the season. Jarry stopped 21 shots for the Penguins, who lost for just the second time in seven games.

Takeaways Avalanche: Colorado is starting to find its footing. The Avalanche are 11-5 over their last 16 games after going 4-1 during their season-long five-game road trip.

Penguins: Even with an uptick in play of late for Jarry and backup Alex Nedeljkovic, Pittsburgh is hardly out of the woods in net. Jarry was shaky on the ice and Nedeljkovic took a puck below his right eye while watching from the bench. Nedeljkovic left briefly and returned to the bench with stitches and considerable swelling.

Key moment The Penguins had trimmed Colorado's lead to one when Nichushkin stripped Pittsburgh's Marcus Pettersson along the boards at center ice and swooped in to beat Jarry to push the Colorado lead to two 3:23 into the third.

Key stat 2 — the number of Finnish-born players with more points through 600 games than Rantanen's 659: Hall of Famers Jari Kurri (848) and Teemu Selanne (756).

Up next The Avalanche host Utah on Thursday. The Penguins visit Montreal on Thursday.

COL leads series 1-0