​IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectThings could have gotten away from the Colorado Avalanche in the first period Friday night. The Pittsburgh Penguins attacked, outshot and outscored the Avs, but Colorado escaped the opening 20 minutes trailing by just one goal. The Avalanche flipped the script in the second period and went on to defeat the Penguins 5-2 at Ball Arena, improving to 5-2-1 on the season.Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, while Gabriel Landeskog, T.J. Hughes and Nathan MacKinnon each added a goal. MacKinnon and Martin Necas had three assists apiece, while Cale Makar recorded two.All five of Colorado’s goals came after Pittsburgh jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Trailing 2-1 after the first period, the Avalanche responded with a goal on their first shift of the second before adding another to get ahead and never looking back.“It goes like that sometimes,” Mackenzie Blackwood said. “Sometimes [the team] is better than me and sometimes vice versa. It’s all about trying to have each other’s backs and weathering it until we have our legs under us.”Lehkonen, who had already scored once, tied the game at 2-2. MacKinnon put a shot on goal that was stopped by goalie Arturs Silovs and deflected into the air. Lehkonen tracked the puck as it came down, gloved it, dropped it into the crease and shoveled it past Silovs for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.“I’m not surprised, I see it in practice all the time,” Blackwood said. “[Lehkonen] does it in practice all the time. It’s not surprising to me, but I’m sure to a lot of people it is.”The Avalanche kept pressing, and a MacKinnon breakaway led to a rare and exciting penalty shot for Colorado’s top center. Silovs made the stop, but just 15 seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Landeskog put home his third goal of the season. The captain finished off a play that began with a Nazem Kadri shot and a rebound feed from Brock Nelson.Colorado carried its one-goal lead for most of the period and continued to apply pressure. The Avs recorded 10 shots in the first 10:22 of the period and had all the momentum. Just past the halfway mark, Landeskog was called for interference. The ensuing power play lasted 69 seconds before Nelson drew a slashing penalty, creating a 4-on-4 situation.After Landeskog exited the penalty box, the Avs failed to score on their brief power play. But just four seconds after Ben Kindel left the box, Hughes scored from in front of the net off a feed from MacKinnon to give Colorado a two-goal lead.“It felt really good. It was a big goal, big time of the game,” Hughes said. “Nate gave me a great pass. I think the power play just expired, but power play was good, we’re moving it around, and Nate just made a great play to be able to score.”Blackwood, who allowed two goals on Pittsburgh’s first 10 shots, finished with 29 saves. He stopped all 22 shots he faced over the final 51:03 to earn his fourth win in six starts.“You have to find a way to stay