The Pittsburgh Penguins lost.

Again.

This time, they were defeated by the powerful Colorado Avalanche, 4-1, at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday.

It was their third consecutive loss and their eighth loss in their past 10 games (2-6-2).

But members of the team expressed satisfaction with how they lost Tuesday, at least compared to how they’ve been losing as of late.

“We slowed down their speed in the neutral zone all night,” goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said to reporters in Denver via audio provided by the team’s media relations staff. “They’re going to get their chances. They’ve got some incredible players, some really fast players. It’s going to happen, but I thought we were way better through the neutral zone today than we have been the past couple of games.”

Nedeljkovic made 21 saves on 23 shots and his record slipped to 12-13-5.

His counterpart on Tuesday, Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood, was busier as he made 32 saves on 33 shots and improved his mark to 7-6-1.

“It was one of those games that you’d hope you’d find a way to win it because we did a lot of good things,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said to reporters in Denver. “Unfortunately, we didn’t.”

Following a scoreless first period, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen broke the ice with his 25th goal of the season 6:36 into the second period.

After Nedeljkovic punched away a wrister from the high slot by Avalanche forward Martin Necas, the rebound clunked off the left corner boards. In deep on the left wing, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar collected the puck and backhanded a rim to the end boards for Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, who quickly distributed a pass to the lower left hashmark where Lehkonen leaned down and pumped a one-timer over Nedeljkovic’s blocker on the far side. MacKinnon and Makar had assists.

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell scored his 29th goal at 18:04 of the second and extended a goal-scoring streak to three games.

At Colorado’s blue line, Rakell broke up a pass attempt by Makar and Crosby collected the loose puck near the visiting bench. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Crosby slipped a cross-ice pass to the left circle for linemate Bryan Rust, who slipped a feed through the legs of Avalanche defenseman Oliver Kylington to the right of the crease where Rakell tapped in a forehand shot by Wedgewood’s left skate. Rust and Crosby claimed assists.

The hosts reclaimed a lead at 15:51 of the third period during a power-play sequence when forward Casey Mittelstadt scored his 11th goal.

Accepting a pass on the Penguins’ left half-wall, MacKinnon offloaded it to the left of the cage for Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin. With Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson offering minimal resistance above the crease, Nichuskin fed a pass across the blue paint for Mittlestadt, who fired a wrister that banged off of Nedeljkovic’s left arm and deflected into the cage on the near side. Assists went to Nichuskin and MacKinnon.

Lehkonen scored an unassisted empty net goal at 18:52 of the third.

Exactly one minute later, Avalanche forward Jack Drury collected his seventh goal on an empty net off an assist by forward Parker Kelly.

Notes:

• Defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok made his Penguins debut. After being a healthy scratch for six consecutive games since being acquired on waivers from the Utah Hockey Club on Feb. 9, Kolyachonok opened Tuesday’s contest on the left side of the third pairing. Logging 11:26 of ice time on 16 shifts, Kolyachonok had two shots on three attempts and blocked one shot.

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• Before Tuesday, Kolyachonok’s last NHL game was in a 4-1 home loss for the Utah Hockey Club on Jan. 8. He was a healthy scratch for Utah in 15 consecutive games before being waived Feb. 8.

• Kolyachonok became the 40th player to wear No. 23 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors (via PittsburghHockey.net):

Mel Pearson, George Swarbrick, Jean-Guy Legace, Bob Woytowich, Doug Barrie, Rick Kessell, John Stewart, Bob Leiter, Eddie Shack, Larry Bignell, Nelson Debenedet, Ed Gilbert, Jim Hamilton, Rod Schutt, Gary Rissling, Doug Lecuyer, Rich Sutter, Andy Brickley, Wally Weir, Randy Hillier, Kjell Samuelsson, Paul Stanton, Chris Joseph, Domenic Pittis. Fredrik Olausson, Victor Ignatjev, Steve Leach, Dan Trebil, Steve McKenna, John Jakopin, Shane Endicott, Eric Boguniecki, Chris Conner, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ryan Craig, Trevor Smith, Steve Donnie, Scott Wilson, Brock McGinn

• Kolyachonok became the second native of Belarus to play in a game for the Penguins. He was preceded by forward Konstantin Koltsov. A first-round draft pick (No. 18 overall) in 1999, Koltsov’s entire NHL career unfolded over parts of three seasons in the early- to mid-2000s. In 144 games with the Penguins, he scored 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists).

• Forward Bryan Rust appeared in his 620th career game with the Penguins and surpassed Ron Schock (619) for sole possession of 10th place on the franchise’s career games list.

• Forward Boko Imama and defenseman Ryan Graves were healthy scratches for the Penguins.

• Defenseman Ryan Lindgren made his debut with the Avalanche. He was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Saturday.