The Pittsburgh Penguins returned to action today with their first preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, winning 3-2 in overtime.
The Pens had to come from behind the whole game after Columbus opened the scoring in the 2nd period as former Penguin James Neal scored on a power play 3:25 in.
Jon Lizotte would tie the game at 1-1 three minuets later and Andonovski would tie it for the penguins late in the third quarter to send it to overtime.
It only took Jason Zucker 1:58 in to overtime to seal the win. Zucker is someone the Penguins hope they can finally keep healthy to play a full season.
The past two seasons Zucker has missed a significant amount of time, with this past season having core muscle surgery for the second time in his career.
Zucker took some time with the media after the game and noted that he can finally “get back to normal” now that the muscle injury is gone and that it felt good today on the ice.
If he can keep his durability up it would be a huge boost to the second line providing a real offensive threat for other teams. It’s also the final year of his contract, earning $5.5million, so he will be keen to get back to full season play in a potential walk year.
The Penguins will play the second game of their rare split-squad set against the Blue Jackets at 7:00 p.m. in Columbus.