Rantanen, playing his 600th NHL game, scored three goals and two assists; MacKinnon had one goal and four assists.

Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen also scored, Devon Toews had two assists and Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for the Avalanche (17-13-0), who have won three straight and four of five.

Cody Glass and Michael Bunting scored for the Penguins (12-14-4), who have lost two of three games after winning their last four. Tristan Jarry made 21 saves.

MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with his second shot at 6:31 of the first period, driving through the neutral zone to the left faceoff circle where he took a snap and scored his 10th goal of the season.

Rantanen made it 2-0 at 18:22, ending a five-game goal drought with a wrist shot from Jarry’s right pad after Cale Makar tipped the puck away from Kris Letang in the left circle.

Rantanen then extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:46 of the second period by dropping to one knee from a tight angle for his team-leading 17th goal.

With his first goal of the season, a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Evgeni Malkin, Glass made it 3-1 at 7:21.

Bunting brought the Penguins to within 3-2 at 18:53 by firing a turned pass from Erik Karlsson for a wrist shot from the slot.

Nichushkin bypassed Marcus Pettersson and extended the lead to 4-2 at 3:23 of the third period.

Lehkonen scored just above the goal area after a pass from Rantanen behind the net to make it 5-2 at 12:21 and thus scored his fifth goal in seven games.

Rantanen completed the hat trick with an unanswered goal at 15:08 to make the final score 6-2.