The new guys helped put the “x-” in front of Colorado Avalanche for the fifth straight season.

Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen both scored their first goals as members of the Avalanche, and the team that wasn’t theirs a month ago cliched a playoff spot with a 6-4 win in Pittsburgh.

Colorado was the second team to do so. The Florida Panthers clinched a spot Saturday.

Fresh off conditioning stint, defenseman Bowen Byram joins Colorado Avalanche on the road

It was something of a formality for the Avalanche, who sat 15 points clear of second place in the Western Conference after the game. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and Darcy Kuemper made 41 saves.

There was also a welcome return. Defenseman Bowen Byram, 20, played 15:02, including 1:25 on the power play, in his first NHL game action since Jan. 10. He registered 2 shots on goal and 3 hits, plus a minor penalty for hooking.

“We don’t plan on easing him in,” coach Jared Bednar said. “He went down and played a couple games. He’s been skating for a long time. He feels good. So I think we’ve got to get him in the lineup and get him playing and see how he does.

“That was a pretty impressive first game for not playing since January. He was involved right away.”

Intention irrelevant as Colorado Avalanche take down Pittsburgh Penguins

What looked like a cut-and-dry goal off the stick of a pressing Mikko Rantanen was an optical illusion. Penguins defenseman Bryan Rust’s stick was also right there and the one that made contact, knocking the puck into Rust’s own net. Rust canceled it out himself, scoring to make it 1-1.

J.T. Compher batted in a rebound before MacKinnon scored his second of the night and 24th of the season. Darren Helm’s goal was sandwiched between Manson’s blast from just inside the blue line and Lehkonen’s empty netter.

The Penguins kept extending the score and the game. Jake Guentzel scored an extra-attacker goal and Mike Matheson added another with 31 seconds left.

“Got a little interesting at the end with the empty net, but I thought our guys did a nice job overall,” Bednar said.

Valeri Nichushkin is on the road trip but missed the game with an illness – not COVID-19, according to the team. Landeskog (knee) and Nazem Kadri (upper body) also missed the game, leaving the Avalanche without three of their top six forwards.

“That was a gutsy win by us with a lot of guys out,” MacKinnon said. “We’re excited for the win.”

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Alex Newhook was under the weather but felt better in time for the game. He took the initial shot on Compher’s goal that made it 2-1.

“Pretty much been in bed for the past two days straight,” Newhook said. “Wasn’t sure if I’d be in the mix tonight, but happy I was.

“I’ll be right back to bed, probably, after this.”