Game #81 Preview: Non-playoff Pens play out the string in Columbus
Wherein we laugh at the Pens missing the playoffs, until they beat us again
Thursday, April 13, 2023 - 7:00 P.M. EST
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
TV: Bally Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent's Blog: Pensburgh
Pittsburgh Penguins (40-31-10, 90 points, 5th Metro, 9th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (24-47-9, 57 points, 8th Metro, 16th East)
Thanks to the New York Islanders' win last night against Montreal, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been eliminated from playoff contention. This ends a 16 season postseason streak, the longest active one in the four major North American professional sports leagues. Let us show our respect by observing a moment of silen-
Thank you.
Player to Watch
Stanislav Svozil, Samuel Knazko, Mikael Pyyhtia, Tyler Angle
With all of the injuries and the back-and-forth emergency call-ups from Cleveland, the Jackets today are giving some fresh faces a look. These four players will be making their NHL debuts.
Angle, a 7th round pick in 2019, has been waiting the longest, with 159 games as a Monster over the last three seasons. Unfortunately his production has dipped each season, with just 23 points in 65 games this season.
Pyyhtia, a 4th round pick in 2020, put up 20 points in 47 games with TPS of Liiga in his native Finland. That's also a dip from his production last season. Upon arriving in Cleveland this spring, however, he has scored three goals in six games.
Knazko, a 3rd round pick in 2020, put up 21 points in 49 games in his first AHL season. Solid start for the Slovak defenseman.
The one I'm most looking forward to is Svozil, the 2021 3rd round pick who has been killing it all season. He and David Jiricek anchored the blue line as Czechia won silver at the World Juniors, with Svozil tallying 1/7/8 in 7 games. In the WHL he scored 11/67/78 in 56 games in the regular season, followed by 4/9/13 in a 7 game opening round loss in the playoffs. Oh yeah, and he had a teammate in Regina whom you may have heard of:
Here's a recent story published by The Athletic on Stanislav Svozil, who will make his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets on Thursday.https://t.co/JOF8WFZOGI
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 12, 2023
Keep coming back to this Connor Bedard quote about his former (and perhaps future) teammate: pic.twitter.com/nbnTuticzK
Jackets Notes
The injured list continues to grow, and Brad Larsen confirmed that the players currently on that list will not play tonight and tomorrow. That includes Boone Jenner, Patrik Laine, Elvis Merzlikins, Eric Robinson, Erik Gudbranson, Matheiu Olivier, or Lane Pederson (remember him?) ... Based on who is out and who was called up, the skaters will be 11F/7D. Sure, why not ... The last time Columbus beat Pittsburgh was November 29, 2019. Gus Nyquist had a hat trick and Nick Foligno scored twice in the 5-2 victory. Of the 7 players with assists, just one remains a Blue Jacket: Zach Werenski. (The others were Oliver Bjorkstrand, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Wennberg, Seth Jones, Josh Anderson, and David Savard) Ah, memories.
The Other Bench
The Penguins shot themselves in the foot with an inexplicable loss at home on Tuesday to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. Pensburgh calls it the worst regular season loss in franchise history. Another moment, please:
Yes, I know, if you're a Pittsburgh fan reading this you're wondering where I get off laughing at the Pens when the Jackets are way, way worse this year. You see, I was born in the darkness. Molded by it. I've been here before. Pittsburgh hasn't since way back when I was in college. Since Connor Bedard was in diapers. You've got your Stanley Cups. Watching our rival's dynasty go out with a whimper...that's OUR Stanley Cup. At least for now.
Season Series
10/22/2022 PIT 6 @ CBJ 3
12/06/2022 CBJ 1 @ PIT 4
03/07/2023 CBJ 4 @ PIT 5 (OT)
04/13/2023 PIT @ CBJ
Stats
| Pittsburgh | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.20 (16) | GPG | 2.60 (30) |
| 3.21 (19) | GAPG | 4.03 (31) |
| 21.2% (17) | PP% | 18.3% (26) |
| 79.2% (16) | PK% | 75.6% (24) |
| 52.2% (8) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 44.9% (30) |
| 52.3% (7) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 44.5% (30) |
| 7.7 (29) | 5v5 Shooting % | 7.8 (27) |
| .916 (14) | 5v5 Save % | .900 (30) |
| Jake Guentzel, 35 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 26 |
| Sidney Crosby, 58 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 53 |
| Sidney Crosby, 91 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 72 |
| Evgeni Malkin, 82 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 81 |
| 17-18-5 | Home / Road | 15-22-2 |
| 5-5-0 | Last 10 | 2-6-2 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Sean Kuraly | Kirill Marchenko |
| Kent Johnson | Jack Roslovic | Emil Bemstrom |
| Hunter McKown | Joona Luoto | Liam Foudy |
| Mikael Pyyhtia | ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | Tyler Angle |
| Gavin Bayreuther | Andrew Peeke |
| Tim Berni | Adam Boqvist |
| Stanislav Svozil/Samuel Knazko | Billy Sweezey |
| Michael Hutchinson |
| Jon Gillies |
Pittsburgh Penguins
| Jake Guentzel | Sidney Crosby | Bryan Rust |
| Jason Zucker | Evgeni Malkin | Rickard Rakell |
| Alex Nylander | Ryan Poehling | Mikael Granlund |
| Danton Heinen | J*ff C*rt*r | Josh Archibald |
| Brian Dumoulin | Kris Letang |
| Dmitry Kulikov | Jan Rutta |
| Pierre-Olivier Joseph | Jeff Petry |
| Tristan Jarry |
| Casey DeSmith |