Friday, April 29, 2022 – 7:00 PM ET
PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 The Fan
All Stats through 4/27 games
Columbus Blue Jackets (36-37-7, 79 points, 6th Metropolitan, 10th East)
at
Pittsburgh Penguins (45-25-11, 101 points, 3rd Metropolitan, 7th East)
This is it.
After horrific tragedy, stretches of great play, stretches of very-much-not-great play, Covid scares, and the injury bug, it all ends tonight. The Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2021-22 season wraps up with a road contest against the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins. The Blue Jackets remain without large chunks of their core due to injury, while the Penguins will likely rest a large portion of theirs prior to their first round matchup versus the New York Rangers.
Depending on how the game last night went (I’m writing this around 5PM Thursday), the Blue Jackets will also be fighting for a chance to finish the season at .500, which would put the finishing flourish on a season where they already exceeded the expectations most pundits placed on them. Other than that and good ole fashioned hate, there’s not much to play for tonight.
Player to Watch: Jakub Voracek
The Czech right wing made his impact in his return to Columbus, and looks to break into second place in single-season assists for the Blue Jackets. One more ties Artemi Panarin, two more passes him. Also, the guy is a former Flyer, and they also do not like the Penguins whatsoever.
Jackets Notes
Werenski, Jenner, Kuraly, Korpisalo, Texier, and Tarasov are all done for the season. Laine, Boqvist, and Blankenburg are also not likely to play. … Jeff Carter is on the Penguins now, as if we needed another reason to hate him/them. … I actually really like the city of Pittsburgh, the sports teams just suck. It’s beautiful, has some cool museums, lots of railfanning, color-coordinated. I just felt like putting that in somewhere.
Season Series
1/21/22 – Pittsburgh at Columbus – 2-5 L
2/27/22 – Pittsburgh at Columbus – 2-3 L
3/22/22 – Columbus at Pittsburgh – 1-5 L
4/29/22 – Columbus at Pittsburgh
Stats
| Pittsburgh | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.26 (11) | GPG | 3.13 (14) |
| 2.70 (5) | GAPG | 3.63 (28) |
| 20.4% (18) | PP% | 18.0% (25) |
| 85.0% (3) | PK% | 78.5% (20) |
| 52.1% (10) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.6% (23) |
| 52.9% (8) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 46.6% (26) |
| 8.0% (23) | 5v5 Shot % | 9.1% (7) |
| .924 (6) | 5v5 Save % | .909 (26) |
| Jake Guentzel, 40 | G Leader | Oliver BJORKSTRAND & Patrik Laine, 26 |
| Kris Letang, 58 | A Leader | Jakub Voracek, 54 |
| Sidney Crosby, 84 | P Leader | Jakub Voracek, 59 |
| Kris Letang, 49 | PIM Leader | Vladislav Gavrikov, 62 |
| 22-13-5 | Home / Road | 16-22-2 |
| 4-5-1 | Last 10 | 4-5-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Gustav Nyquist | Jack Roslovic | Jakub Voracek |
| Yegor Chinakhov | Cole Sillinger | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Eric Robinson | Justin Danforth | Emil Bemstrom |
| Kent Johnson | Brendan Gaunce | Carson Meyer |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Andrew Peeke |
| Dean Kukan | Jake Bean |
| Gavin Bayreuther | Gabriel Carlsson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| JF Berube |
Pittsburgh Penguins (resting players included)
| Jake Guentzel | Sidney Crosby | Bryan Rust |
| Brock McGinn | Evgeni Malkin | Rickard Rakell |
| Jason Zucker | Jeff Carter | Kasperi Kapanen |
| Danton Heinen | Teddy Blueger | Evan Rodrigues |
| Brian Dumoulin | Kris Letang |
| Michael Matheson | Chad Ruhwedel |
| Marcus Pettersson | John Marino |
| Casey DeSmith |
| Louis Domingue |
Thanks!
Finally, I just wanted to say thanks to PD and the rest of the staff for letting me join this year, and all of y’all for reading through my ramblings over the course of the season. It’s been a blast, and we have some cool things planned for the offseason!