I’m not going to spend much time on this one. I feel sick to my stomach thinking about it. The Penguins were very good in this one and the Blue Jackets were not.
The Pens opened the scoring column up with just over a minute to go in the first period. The goal came after a bad Jack Johnson turnover in the CBJ zone. Scott Wilson got the puck and dished it to Carter Rowney, who sat in front of the net. The puck bounced off Rowney’s stick and into the top right part of the net.
The next goal came after a blocked Kyle Quincey shot. The ricocheted puck was chased down Tom Kuhnhackl, who skated up the left edge of the ice. He threw it to the racing Patric Hornqvist on the other side of the net, who wristed the shot past Bob for the 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Brian Dumoulin skated around the net with the puck and attempted to dish it to the front of the net. It bounced off of the Cam Atkinson’s nearby skate and slid into the corner of the goal. It was very unlucky and depressing. It may be even more depressing when you take into account that Pittsburgh probably was offsides before the goal.
The Pens’ fourth goal came in the third period after an aerial pass hit Jake Guentzel and went into the net. Again, unlucky and depressing.
Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone CBJ goal in the game shorthanded following a whiffed Pittsburgh pass. Dubinsky took the puck and skated up the ice patiently, finally deciding to pull the trigger to score one past Matt Murray.
That’s the season series! Both teams came away with two wins. The Jackets won the goal differential but the momentum is in the Pittsburgh’s favor. Here’s hoping to the Penguins screwing that up and we win the playoffs series.