PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) For the first time since the 2019-20 NHL season, the Pittsburgh Penguins faced off against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Penguins played Friday night in Columbus missing just one name from the normal starting roster as they inch closer to being fully healthy for the first time all season.
Jason Zucker was the lone Penguin to miss Friday, despite playing and scoring twice in Vegas on Monday, when he was placed back on the injured reserve.
The Penguins got the scoring started quickly when Brian Dumoulin scored just 32 seconds into the game.
Not much of a goal scorer, Dumoulin picked up his third of the season.
The Blue Jackets answered back in the middle of the period with a short handed goal from Gustav Nyquist to tie the game.
A shot that Casey DeSmith has to stop, even Nyquist wasn’t sure how he scored after fanning on the initial shot attempt.
Boone Jenner scored his 16th of the year to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead with under a minute and a half left in the period.
A minute and a half was all Sidney Crosby needed to score his first of the night, and sending the game to intermission as a 2-2 tie.
One of the most Crosby-esque goals we’ve seen from him in a long time, as he is able to fend off the Jackets’ defender and chip the puck in from just above the goal line.
DeSmith let in a pair of goals in the first period and both of them should have been saves; The first shorthanded after an initial miss, and the second a puck that squeezed through and sat just barely in the net.
That was enough for Mike Sullivan to pull the plug on DeSmith for the day and sent Tristan Jarry to finish the game in net.
That turned out to be the right call as Jarry shut out the Jackets for the remainder of the game.
Mike Matheson scored on a bomb of a slap shot that, much like DeSmith’s second goal against, just slipped through the pads and slowly rolled over the goal line.
Jarry was able to hold the Jackets off the score sheet, but that was almost thwarted when a Max Domi goal was deemed offside after a coach’s challenge from Sullivan.
The Domi goal would have tied the game at three, but the Pens held onto a 3-2 lead and would build on it.
While on a two-man advantage, Crosby scored his second of the night on a feed from Rust to make it 4-2.
Just another classic goal from Crosby; One knee one-timer for a power play goal.
Crosby’s magic wasn’t done yet, as with a Blue Jackets empty net he would score his third goal of the night for his 12th career hat trick.
What makes it so magical? Well, Crosby wasn’t even trying to score on the play.
In his own zone Crosby tried to feed Rust who was breaking out to the empty net, but Rust couldn’t catch up to the bank pass that would just drift into the open net.
In 28 games played this season, Crosby has picked up 31 points.
The Penguins win their fourth straight win and remain one of the hottest teams in the league.
Four straight and 15-3 since the start of December, the Penguins now sit one point behind the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division.