Saturday night’s preseason game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins was no ordinary preseason game. It was Marc-Andre Fleury’s return to Pittsburgh and his last NHL action.
The night turned into everything that makes hockey a great sport.
Fleury entered the game in the third period and stopped all eight shots he faced. Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby provided the offense in a 4-1 Penguins’ win over the Blue Jackets.
After regulation, the teams held a shootout. Then Fleury got his moment taking a lap around the rink with both teams celebrating his career and legacy.
Game Recap
As for the game itself, the Blue Jackets scored the game’s first goal at 16:08 when Luca Del Bel Belluz finished off a Yegor Chinakhov pass. That turned out to be the only goal of the first period.
From the start of the second period on, the Penguins took over momentum in the game. They scored twice in the second period including Rakell’s first goal with just 1.6 seconds left in the period to make it 2-1. Crosby scored at 5:20 to even the score before that.
The Penguins added on two more in the third. Elvis Merzlikins, who was good in Saturday night’s game, made a bad pass that turned into an easy goal for Ville Koivunen. Merzlikins played the entire game and stopped 32 of 35 on the night.
Rakell scored into an empty net to make it 4-1. Then the teams played the shootout.
The Penguins sent Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang out. They did not score. Del Bel Belluz was the Blue Jackets’ third shooter. He beat Fleury which triggered heavy boos from the crowd. Then Fleury took his lap.
Del Bel Belluz admitted having some mixed emotions as he will go down as the last player to score on Fleury. “It was obviously good that I scored. But yeah, I felt like I kind of ruined the party there for him.” He went on to say he expects to be booed every time he returns to Pittsburgh in the future.
The atmosphere was electric for a preseason game. Every time Fleury touched the puck in the third period, there were loud cheers.
At different points in the night, the crowd could be heard chanting “One more year” and “Thank you Fleury.” The night met the moment. The Penguins and their fans got to celebrate one of the legends of the game.
The Blue Jackets have two games remaining in their preseason both against the Washington Capitals. Head coach Dean Evason said cuts will be coming Sunday to get the team down to one group plus a couple of bubble players. Evason also admitted that it was “fair to say” the competition on the bubble has been close given the number of games they have played this preseason.
Up next for the Penguins is a game in Detroit on Monday night.
