Pittsburgh Penguins at Columbus Blue Jackets
· National Hockey LeagueTexier, Severson score shootout goals to lift Blue Jackets over Penguins 4-3
Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski scored third-period goals as Columbus rallied from a two-goal deficit. Mathieu Olivier also scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves to beat Pittsburgh for the first time in his career.
“In five years, all the times I’ve played against them, I couldn’t do it,” Merzlikins said with a grin. “Tonight, I did it. It feels good.”
Drew O’Connor, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rackell scored, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 35 shots for the Penguins, who split a back-to-back series with Columbus and lost to the Blue Jackets for the first time in four games this season.
Olivier put Columbus ahead 59 seconds into a Blue Jackets first-period penalty kill, burying the rebound of Cole Sillinger's shot at 7:46 and withstanding a coach's challenge for goaltender interference.
The short-handed goal was a career first for Olivier and his second score in two games against Pittsburgh.
O’Connor’s one-timer off a feed from Rust pulled Pittsburgh even at 13:29 of the second period, tying his career-long goal streak of three games.
Rust, who extended his point streak to four games, gave Pittsburgh the lead at 18:54 with his score off a feed from Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh captain notched his eighth assist and 10th point in his last four games.
Rackell gave Pittsburgh a two-score cushion at 8:59 of the third period, but Marchenko pulled Columbus within a goal nine seconds later.
“That goal that we scored right away after their third goal was a key moment,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “It gave the bench a lot of juice.”
Werenski, who had an assist on Marchenko's goal, drew Columbus even with 8:13 remaining in regulation.
“The start of the third wasn’t great for us,” Werenski said. “Once we scored, we started playing better and that kind of got us on the attack again.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said the lesson from the game was simple.
“We’ve got to defend better," he said. "That’s what we can learn.”
UP NEXT
Penguins: Visit Rangers Monday night.
Blue Jackets: Host Colorado Monday night.
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Regular Season SeriesPIT wins series 3-1
Scoring Summary
Goal | 1st Period 7:47 | Mathieu Olivier Goal (5) Backhand, assists: Cole Sillinger (16) | |
Goal | 2nd Period 13:29 | Drew O'Connor Goal (13) Slap Shot, assists: Bryan Rust (22), Marcus Pettersson (23) | |
Goal | 2nd Period 18:55 | Bryan Rust Goal (24) Slap Shot, assists: Sidney Crosby (44), Kris Letang (35) | |
Goal | 3rd Period 8:59 | Rickard Rakell Goal (12) Backhand, assists: Evgeni Malkin (35) | |
Goal | 3rd Period 9:08 | Kirill Marchenko Goal (19) Snap Shot, assists: Damon Severson (17), Zach Werenski (41) | |
Goal | 3rd Period 11:47 | Zach Werenski Goal (7) Snap Shot, assists: Johnny Gaudreau (44) | |
Goal | 5 0:00 | Alexandre Texier Goal Snap Shot | |
Goal | 5 0:00 | Sidney Crosby Goal Snap Shot | |
Goal | 5 0:00 | Damon Severson Goal Backhand |
Statistics
PIT | CBJ | |
---|---|---|
23 | Blocked Shots | 15 |
8 | Hits | 19 |
5 | Takeaways | 8 |
33 | Shots | 37 |
0 | Power Play Goals | 0 |
2 | Power Play Opportunities | 4 |
0.0 | Power Play Percentage | 0.0 |
0 | Short Handed Goals | 1 |
0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
33 | Faceoffs Won | 27 |
55.0 | Faceoff Win Percent | 45.0 |
3 | Giveaways | 4 |
4 | Total Penalties | 2 |
8 | Penalty Minutes | 4 |
Game Information
Location: Columbus, OH
Attendance: 18,873 | Capacity:
Location: Columbus, OH
Attendance: 18,873 | Capacity:
2023-24 Metropolitan Division Standings
TEAM | W | L | PTS | OTL |
---|---|---|---|---|
NY Rangers | 55 | 23 | 114 | 4 |
Carolina | 52 | 23 | 111 | 7 |
NY Islanders | 39 | 27 | 94 | 16 |
Washington | 40 | 31 | 91 | 11 |
Pittsburgh | 38 | 32 | 88 | 12 |
Philadelphia | 38 | 33 | 87 | 11 |
New Jersey | 38 | 39 | 81 | 5 |
Columbus | 27 | 43 | 66 | 12 |