The Blue Jackets came into Pittsburgh looking to leapfrog the flightless birds in the standings, and potentially enter the playoff picture at the halfway point of the season. Doing so would net Columbus their first win in the Steel City since November 2015.
First Period
The Jackets got the jump on the Penguins early in the period, earning five of the game’s first six shots on net. Pittsburgh got away with a slewfoot on Elvis Merzlikins early in the frame, before Erik Karlsson was nabbed for interference 2:53 into the game. On the powerplay, Dmitry Voronkov kept the puck in the zone before streaking to the netfront. As he did, the puck deflected to Sean Monahan, who dished it over to Kirill Marchenko, who pulled off the slick shot-pass to Vronk. 1-0 Jackets in 27 seconds.
BLUE JACKETS POWERPLAY GOAL – Dmitry Voronkov from Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan – 3:20 1st Period
The Jackets kept up the pressure through the first half of the period, including some nifty offensive zone dangles by Marchenko, before the game entered a bit of a lull. Only 10 shots on goal for the two teams combined (a 7-3 advantage for the Jackets), including none for over seven minutes, from 10:22 to 2:56 of the frame. There was a fair bit of back and forth, and both teams had to play staunch defense, but neither really got anything going.
With under a minute to go, Voronkov got nabbed for hooking, but the Jackets were able to kill the first 51.5 seconds of the Penguins Powerplay.
Second Period
The Jackets started the penalty kill pretty well, with Monahan even getting a semi-breakaway. Unfortunately the Penguins ended it with a powerplay goal. That makes it 25 of 41 games this year the Jackets have allowed a PPG against, which seems low actually.
PENGUINS POWERPLAY GOAL – Michael Bunting from Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson – 0:51 2nd Period
Apparently Sidney Crosby now also owns the record for most faceoff wins since they started tracking faceoff wins. K.
There was a bit of a scare eight minutes into the period, as Zach Werenski briefly went to the locker room. He’d return within a couple minutes of gametime.
Not much else really happened this period. The Penguins were a bit better and the Jackets were a lot worse. There were a lot of times when the Jackets’ breakouts were completely smothered by the Pens’ forecheck. Safe to say the home team was controlling the pace of play. The Jackets were better late in the frame, but they’d need to be better in the third to have a chance to win.
Third Period
Well, the Penguins started the period immediately scoring (Rickard Rakell with a snipe to the top corner) and injuring Sean Monahan. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
PENGUINS GOAL – Rickard Rakell from Erik Karlsson and Matt Grzelcyk – 0:24 3rd Period
That, for the first time all game, really opened things up. Both teams were able to fly down the zone and get chances. Adam Fantilli (who had a great game all night) was filling in for Sean Monahan on the top line and started clicking with the Russians. In other news, Sidney Crosby randomly slashed Sean Kuraly in the groin, which feels like there should be some rule against.
Around the midway point, a brief defensive collapse cost the Jackets. Crosby stole the puck from Cole Sillinger behind the net, who was able to corral the puck and find Rakell open in the high slot. No chance for Elvis there.
PENGUINS GOAL – Rickard Rakell (2) from Sidney Crosby – 10:09 3rd Period
Last year (and most years), the Jackets would’ve bagged it in and taken their lumps, but not this year. They immediately began the counteroffensive, and were rewarded two minutes later. Voronkov was able to block Tristan Jarry’s clearing attempt, and the puck found its way to Fantilli. Mo tried to pass it to an open Kirill Marchenko in the high slot, but the puck bounced of the latter’s foot… right to Vronk! He batted it in to cut the lead to 3-2.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Dmitry Voronkov (2) from Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli – 12:05 3rd Period
The game continued to go back and forth, though Columbus appeared to have grabbed some momentum. And after letting a lot of stuff go all night, they grabbed a powerplay. I’m not saying Blake Lizotte didn’t slash Zach Werenski, he definitely did, but I am saying there was a lot of things that went missed if that slash was the standard.
Either way, the top unit, without Sean Monahan, got to work with 3:51 remaining. Marchenko collected a rebound, got the puck to Werenski up top, who went back to Marchenko at the top of the circle, down to Voronkov, back to Marchy at the hashes, up to Z, over to KJ, shot-pass for Fantilli to tip-in from the high slot. Absolutely gorgeous, the 11-second clip the Jackets posted does not do it justice.
BLUE JACKETS POWERPLAY GOAL – Adam Fantilli from Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski (and Marchenko and Voronkov) – 17:24 3rd Period
The Jackets were able to hunker down and get this thing to overtime, securing a point for both sides.
Overtime and Shootout
The Penguins focused on possession in the extra frame, keeping the puck and just continually circling for the first two and last two minutes of the 3-on-3. The Jackets had the puck for a bit in the middle but weren’t able to do much. The Pens seeming refused to themselves, not really getting much of a chance until Kevin Hayes drove to the net with about 20 seconds to go.
In the shootout, Kent Johnson was able to fire the puck five-hole through Tristan Jarry to kick things off. Elvis stopped Brian Rust and Crosby, while Fantilli went off the post. Marchenko iced it for the Jackets first win since November of 2015.
Fun Facts about November of 2015
- I was in 7th Grade
- Adam Fantilli was 11
- Barack Obama was president
- Zach Werenski was coming of off earning a goal and an assist against Niagara University in Michigan’s 7-3 win
- Top three songs in the Billboard Top 100 were “Hello” by Adele, “Sorry” by Justin Bieber, and “Hotline Bling” by Drake
- Spectre had released the week prior to a $70M opening weekend
- Catalan leaders tried to secede from Spain
- Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey in UFC 193
- The card game Exploding Kittens had just come out (highly recommend)
- The whole San Diego SeaWorld killer whales controversy thing
So enjoy that
Back at it Thursday against Seattle!