Colorado’s Mayor has returned from his extended leave of absence.

For the third straight game on the road, the Colorado Avalanche took care of business, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2. Logan O’Connor played his first game of the season, picking up an assist in the first period and not looking like he missed a beat.

Here are five takeaways from another Avalanche victory.

It took 70 games and a lot longer than he expected, but O’Connor is back just in time for the postseason. He never really participated in a full-contact practice with the Avalanche but given those are few and far between at this point in the season, coach Jared Bednar had no choice but to throw him into the lineup to get him going. He played just over 15 minutes and made a fantastic feed to Parker Kelly for his first-period goal. Bednar likely appreciates getting back the guy who was second on the team in scoring against Dallas last postseason.

Although the score was lopsided, the game wasn’t. The Avalanche were pretty sloppy for most of the night. They also have been taking a few more penalties than they’d like, but the penalty kill has slowly gotten back on track. Pittsburgh went 0 for 4 on the power play, including failing to take advantage of a longer 5-on-3.

Scott Wedgewood more than made up for the sloppy play in front of him, stopping 30 of the 32 shots sent his way. The Avalanche were a bit too loose in the third period and Wedgewood bailed them out, keeping the Penguins at bay long enough until time simply ran out. At this point, it would be difficult to see Mackenzie Blackwood starting over Wedgewood if the postseason were to start tomorrow.

With the return of O’Connor and Ross Colton, Bednar was able to get Nazem Kadri back at center, something he’d love to run with the rest of the way. Nicolas Roy missed this game due to an upper-body injury but it sounds like Artturi Lehkonen is nearing a return as early as Thursday in Winnipeg.

Interesting that Zakhar Bardakov stayed in the lineup instead of Gavin Brindley. Before the trade deadline, the Avalanche snuck Brindley onto the Colorado Eagles roster so that he’d be eligible to play in the postseason for them. If Lehkonen returns soon and the Roy injury isn’t serious, Brindley could be headed to the AHL very soon, which wouldn’t be a bad thing. He’s only 21 and needs to play games.

Avalanche 6, Penguins 2

What happened: A role reversal of the last time these two teams met, as a hot first period carried the Avalanche to victory.

What went right: Nikita Kucherov has 29 points since the Olympic break. The next closest player to him is Martin Necas, who has 26, including the two goals he scored Tuesday. Those goals give him 88 points on the season, matching his jersey number. If he stays healthy and keeps this up, 100 points is a real possibility.

What went wrong: Moving to the second pair has helped Devon Toews’ game, but Brett Kulak has had a tough go of it on the top pair the last two games. The Penguins out-attempted the Avalanche 26-10 with Kulak on the ice. Returns have been mostly solid for the defense since the Avalanche switched up the defensive pairings so there’s no reason to change things again just yet.

Avalanche goal scorers: MacKinnon (46), Malinski (4), Necas (33,34), Kelly (16), Colton (9)

Penguins goal scorers: Chinakhov (17), Rakell (15)

Between the pipes: Wedgewood was very good again with 30 saves.

What’s next: Colorado has struggled in Winnipeg during the regular season and heads there again on Thursday for a 6 p.m. matchup with the Jets.