The Pittsburgh Penguins blew a 3-0 first period lead and in the midst of a game that looked to be slipping away, Patric Hornqvist saved the day in the third period, scoring three goals in a 2:47 span for the fastest hat trick in team history.

A power play marker from Hornqvist at 6:11 in his office broke a 3-3 tie and the goal stopped the bleeding as Hornqvist would get some lucky breaks on his next two goals to complete the hat trick and secure a 6-3 win as the Penguins averted another brutal loss.

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Hornqvist big night moves him into a tie for second on the team in goals with 12 as he’s just eight goals away from another 20 goal season.

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— Five Penguins have 10 or more goals through the teams’ first 26 games:

Sidney Crosby – 14 Goals

Jake Guentzel – 12 Goals

Patric Hornqvist – 12 Goals

Evgeni Malkin – 11 Goals

Phil Kessel – 10 Goals

–No other forward has more than four goals.–

— Marcus Pettersson played 13:24 in his Penguins debut, recording 2 blocked shots and a +1 rating. Pettersson was at 40% in possession, on the ice for 13 shot attempts and 22 Against.

His game against the Avalanche fit the scouting report.

Nothing about him stands out that screams big time upside by any means but nothing about him also stands out in a bad way.

Pettersson was responsible in his own end and what the coaches have been intrigued about him is that he’s not the type who runs around and take chances as the Penguins defensively as a whole have major issues of not staying in their proper defensive lanes.

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— Patric Hornqvist called the win over Colorado a “turning point” in the Penguins season.

Hard to buy into that, though, with how many red flags this team continues to show on a game-by-game basis, including last night where the Avalanche’s skill/speed game caused Pittsburg fits for lengthy stretches.

— Dominik Simon took a hard hit in the first period that saw him exit the game. With Bryan Rust struggling so bad offensively, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!