The Columbus Blue Jackets went into Tuesday night’s game in Pittsburgh losers of 15 games in a row at PPG Paints Arena. At long last, that streak has ended.
Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko scored the only two goals of the shootout to lift the Blue Jackets to a comeback 4-3 win over the Penguins. Dmitri Voronkov scored twice while Adam Fantilli scored a power-play goal that forced overtime.
The concern coming out of this game is the status of Sean Monahan, who had to leave the game in the third period.
Game Recap
The Blue Jackets got an early power play and quickly capitalized. Marchenko’s pass to the front was deflected by Voronkov for an early 1-0 lead. Penguins’ goalie Tristan Jarry allowed his sixth goal of the season on the first shot of the game.
From there, the Penguins settled in and used their aggressive style to start taking over possession. Early in the second period, they were able to tie the game.
Michael Bunting scored on a bit of an accident. Sidney Crosby’s attempted pass was flubbed put landed perfectly so that Bunting could direct it in. While the Blue Jackets weren’t able to generate too much in the second, they didn’t allow very much to the Penguins either after Bunting’s goal.
But just like the start of the second, the Penguins wasted no time to score at the start of the third. Rickard Rakell got behind the Blue Jackets’ defense and blasted a shot past Elvis Merzlikins for a 2-1 lead. It was after this that Monahan left the game. Postgame, Dean Evason said the injury occurred in the second period. Monahan tried a shift in the third but had to leave the game. There is no further update on his status as of yet.
The Penguins extended it to 3-1 also thanks to Rakell. Cole Sillinger’s attempted pass hit Crosby. Crosby gained possession and found Rakell in front to extend the lead to two.
The Blue Jackets found the energy they needed after and found a way to tie the game. Voronkov netted his second of the night about two minutes later to cut it to 3-2. Then Blake Lizotte slashed Zach Werenski with 3:51 left in the game. It took Fantilli just 1:15 to score off a Kent Johnson feed to make it 3-3.
Fantilli replaced Monahan on the top line and top power play. He rose to the occasion to help get the game to overtime. After a nervy overtime for the Blue Jackets that saw both Dante Fabbro (2:36) and Denton Mateychuk (2:33) each finish overtime with shifts over 2:30, they won it in the shootout.
With the win, the Blue Jackets get to 42 points and own the second wildcard in the East. They head home to host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Penguins continue their 5-game homestand by hosting the Edmonton Oilers Thursday.