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Nathan MacKinnon Authentic Artturi Lehkonen Jersey , like every boy his age growing up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, idolized the hometown hero Sidney Crosby. Now as an NHL player and a fellow No. 1 overall pick, the two have become great friends.They work out together in the summer, they’ve made commercials together and they play on the same Canadian National teams. But two times a season they are foes, and one of those times is Wednesday night when Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Colorado Avalanche.The friendship will be put on hold for a few hours while both are trying to beat each other. And they won’t have much time to socialize. Both teams played road games Tuesday night, with the Avalanche beating Nashville 3-2 and Pittsburgh winning 4-3 at Winnipeg.Article continues below ...Colorado has won five straight and is 7-0-1 in its last eight games.Crosby, 31, is eight years older than MacKinnon and has something the younger Cole Harbour player desires — titles. The Penguins have won three Stanley Cups in 13-plus seasons and has been to four Cup finals.MacKinnon hasn’t been out of the first round in the two times Colorado has reached the playoffs in his first five seasons, and he admires the way his friend still competes.“He never gets comfortable,” MacKinnon once said of Crosby. “He’s always trying new things to get better and working so hard. It’s contagious. If a guy like that is trying to get better every day than anybody can.”MacKinnon, at least through the first quarter of this season, has been the more productive player than Crosby. He entered Tuesday second in the NHL in scoring with 37 points — three behind linemate Mikko Rantanen — and has more goals (17-10) and assists (20-15) than Crosby.MacKinnon has come on strong since last November after Colorado (14-6-4) traded Matt Duchene to Ottawa, and he has not stopped producing.The Avalanche will need his line to play well to beat the Penguins (10-8-5). Although Pittsburgh has struggled out of the gate it has a dangerous offense now that Crosby has returned from an upper-body injury that cost him three games earlier this month.Crosby’s injury is one of many Pittsburgh has dealt with. Goaltender Matt Murray Carey Price Jersey , center Matt Cullen and defenseman Justin Schultz are going to be out for an extended time but center Derek Grant, who missed two straight games with an undisclosed injury before returning to score a tying goal in the third period against the Jets.“I just fell funny,” Grant said, describing how his injury happened to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Monday. “Something I just got to play through, I think, but I felt good out there today.”The Avalanche have had a few injuries, the latest being their top-scoring defenseman Tyson Barrie sitting out Tuesday with a lower-body injury. Mark Barberio played in his place.The one area Colorado has addressed is defense, and one reason is the signing of Ian Cole in the summer. Cole is averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time this season and brings championship experience to the young Avalanche. He won his titles with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 and played parts of two other seasons with the Penguins.Even with Colorado reaching the playoffs last season, having someone who has played deep into the postseason helps.“The playoffs are more of a feel thing, more of an intensity thing, something where every battle matters and every decision matters,” Cole told The Denver Post. “Every puck play matters. And that doesn’t just apply to the playoffs — if we try to instill that mindset over the course of the season, we’ll have a better record, a better team and when we get to the playoffs Jeff Petry Jersey Kids , we’ll be more ready to jump right in.” COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus coach John Tortorella didn’t want to talk much hockey after the Blue Jackets‘ wild New Year’s Eve win over the Ottawa Senators.Tortorella’s mind was on Nick Foligno’s 5-year-old daughter, Milana, who was born with a congenital heart defect and earlier Monday had a scheduled surgery in Boston.Foligno, the Blue Jackets captain, was with his little girl but chatted with Tortorella by phone after the team scored five goals in the final period to secure its sixth win in the last seven games.“He wanted to talk hockey and there was no hockey talk with me,” Tortorella said. “If that doesn’t put things into perspective — we’re worried about a damn power play, scoring a goal, and the Folignos are going through that. This young girl has gone through a lot already in her life. Let’s be careful here with what’s important.”Good advice from Tortorella, who had plenty of players step up in the captain’s absence.Zach Werenski broke a tie late in the game with the second of his two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are back within two points of Washington in the Metropolitan Division.Werenski tipped in a pass from Cam Atkinson with 2:01 left to snap a 3-3 tie after Ottawa had charged back with a pair of unanswered goals.“No one took me going to the net, and Cam made a great pass right on my tape, and it found its way in,” Werenski said. “So it’s easy when you play with guys like that.”Atkinson and Josh Anderson got empty-net goals in the final minute to turn it into a rout for surging Columbus.Pierre-Luc Dubois had a career-high two goals and two assists. Atkinson a goal and a pair of assists Jonathan Drouin Jersey , and Artemi Panarin added two assists.Ryan Dzingel had two goals for Ottawa, a team going in the opposite direction. The Senators lost their fifth in a row and are mired in last place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.Rookie Marcus Hogberg — who made his first career start Saturday against Washington — didn’t play badly, finishing with 32 saves.After a scoreless first period, Ottawa got on the board at 8:15 of the second. Chris Tierney found Dzingel just to the right of the net , and the Ohio State product caught Bobrovsky leaning away for an easy goal, his 14th of the season.Werenski tied the game 80 seconds later with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Panarin.Dubois got his 15th goal of the season when he put back a rebound off the right post four minutes into the third period to break a 1-1 tie, and then he got credit for a lucky one off Cody Ceci’s skate later in the period.The Senators got a fortunate goal of their own that bounced in off Columbus defender David Savard, with Bobby Ryan getting credit. Dzingel scored again three minutes later to tie it again, setting up Werenski’s game-winner.“We were down 3-1 and come back, had some really good life and enthusiasm there and got nothing out of it,” Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. “So it’s a tough one to swallow because I thought we deserved at least one point on this one.”NOTES: Columbus’ five goals in the final 20 minutes matched a franchise record for most in a period. … F Anthony Duclair moved to Foligno’s spot on the second line and Lukas Sedlak was back in the lineup after being scratched the past five games. … Columbus is the only NHL team with four defensemen with at least 13 points. … Werenski has six points in the last five games.UP NEXT:Ottawa: Hosts Vancouver on Wednesday.Columbus: At Carolina on Friday.