The Blue Jackets finished the preseason Friday night with a 7-3 setback in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.
Game in a Paragraph
Columbus started strong with two goals in the opening minutes, but the Penguins scored seven of the last eight goals in the contest to complete a sweep of a two-game home-and-home series. The Blue Jackets finish the preseason with a 4-4 record.
CBJ Standouts
- Mikael Pyyhtia, Cole Clayton and Kent Johnson scored for the Blue Jackets.
- Denton Mateychuk had an assist to give him three points in four games during a strong preseason.
How It Happened
The opening eight minutes portended a shootout, as each team got on the board twice starting with a pair of CBJ goals. Pyyhtia started the scoring at 4:25, as he got behind the defense off a feed from James Malatesta and slipped a shot through the legs of goalie Joel Blomqvist. Just 40 seconds later, it was 2-0, as Mateychuk set up Clayton for a blast past Blomqvist from the left side. But Pittsburgh needed only 1:08 to tie the score, as Noel Acciari ripped a rinkwide feed from Kevin Hayes past Daniil Tarasov at 6:27 and Rickard Rakell beat Tarasov clean with a power-play goal that made it 2-2.
The middle frame actually had more scoring, though most of it was by the Penguins as Pittsburgh took a 6-3 lead in the second. Jesse Puljujarvi got it going with a sweet breakaway finish at 5:54, and Rutger McGroarty redirected a puck from the slot past Tarasov just 11 seconds later to make it 4-2. Acciari then scored his second of the night on a breakaway at 11:36. Kent Johnson answered with his own breakaway goal past Blomqvist to make it 5-3 at 13:15, but Lars Eller came on the left and beat Tarasov 55 seconds later to restore the Pens’ three-goal lead at 6-3.
There wasn’t much to say about the third period as both teams were set to finish the preseason without much further incident, though the Penguins got the lone goal of the period on a nice passing play completed by Eller with 11:44 to play.
Notable
Johnson finishes the preseason with six points (two goals, four assists) in five games. ... Tarasov had a tough night, making 18 saves. ... Columbus was 0-2 on the power play, while Pittsburgh was 1-2. ... Hunter McKown and Jake Christiansen led the CBJ with four shots on goal apiece. ... Eller had a four-point night for the Pens, while McGroarty and Puljujarvi finished with 1-2-3 lines.
Roster Report
Here is the roster the Blue Jackets used for the contest. Columbus called up five players from AHL Cleveland to fill the roster for the game.
Up Next
With the preseason over, Columbus is off the next two days, then returns to preparations for Thursday’s season opener at Minnesota.
