Penguins/Blue Jackets Recap: Crosby, Letang fuel comeback for first OT win of season

Pregame

Lots of new looks for the Penguins; a goal last game helps elevate Kevin Hayes to the first line, Tommy Novak slides up into Hayes’s former spot on the second line. Ben Kindel is back for this one, bumping Tristan Broz out and Connor Dewar returns to his typical home on the fourth line. Defense holds steady and Tristan Jarry starts in goal for the second game in a row for his first time this season.

First period

It’s a slow start in the first five minutes or so for Pittsburgh, but they get it in gear and score the game’s first goal. A long o-zone sequence puts Columbus goalie Jet Greaves in a scramble and out of sorts in his crease, the puck goes low to high and Kris Letang finds who else but Sidney Crosby down near the net to redirect the puck in. 1-0.

The Blue Jackets are able to answer back. Sean Monahan does the honors for his first goal in 10 games when Tristan Jarry can’t control a rebound; neither can Ryan Graves as the puck bounces off his skates and right to Monahan. 1-1 game.

The period comes to an end, both team had a power play during it; the Pens looked terrible, CBJ had a little more zone time but weren’t able to set the cannon off. Shots were 8-7 in favor of Columbus.

Second period

Pittsburgh gets a very long extended 6v5 chance on a delayed penalty call but can’t score on the power play. In fact, they give up a goal, and Bryan Rust left early after inadvertently skating into a teammate (though he would return to action quickly). Can’t go much worse than that. Miles Wood skates around a sprawled out Crosby and Brendan Gaunce is able to finish it. 2-1 CBJ.

The Pens barely get any more shots for the rest of the period, Bryan Rust tries his classic drive from the left side to the net but runs out of room, loses an edge and his leg smacks into the goal post. He leaves in pain for the second time in the game.

Columbus beats the clock to extend their lead to 3-1 with 3.3 seconds to play. Charlie Coyle does a great job protecting the puck and keeping Letang from getting to it. Hayes flies by, accomplishing little and leaving Zach Werenski wide open creeping down from his point position. Bad news for Pittsburgh comes from it.

Shots overall in the game are 21-14 CBJ, 14 feels generous for what the Pens have done – a good portion of it has come in a few flurries here and there, nothing consistent or building up. It would have been a victory to get to the room only down one goal and try to recover from there.

Third period

The Pens come out smoking to start the third, Rust is back and gets the puck following a pinch by Erik Karlsson to seal off the wall. Ivan Provorov can’t gap up to him quickly enough and Rust fires a shot at the glove of Greaves. It hits it and goes in. 3-2 game just 13 seconds in.

The Pens find an equalizer, and it’s Crosby, of course. A nice bank pass from Tommy Novak puts Crosby behind the defense. In a quick move the Pens captain catches up with the puck and slams on the breaks as he snapes it through Greaves. 3-3.

Jarry and Greaves trade some big saves to keep the game tied and head to extra time.

Overtime

Columbus has the puck a bit but they can’t shoot. The Pens get it back and eventually create a 2-on-1 in front of the net. Novak fakes a shot and lays a perfect pass over for Letang. Letang fires in his second goal of the season to give Pittsburgh their first overtime win of the year in their sixth attempt.

Some thoughts

• The Pens No 1 ranked power play going 0/2 and giving up a goal to Columbus is a troubling harbinger for the rest of the game. If you only knew just that one note and didn’t know anything about the final score, you’d have to think it wasn’t going to be a winning effort based on that alone. Sneaking out with the full two points wasn’t something to be expected for a while tonight.

• That’s one of the many great things about having Sidney Crosby on your roster. The team can bring a C or D game for most the night, the Crosby factor can show up and give them a fighting chance.

• Jarry did the same, especially in the third period with a couple of very key and clutch saves to keep the puck out of the net. His team didn’t put him in great shape for a while.

• It’s not going very well for Koivunen. In the first period he was slow carrying the puck across the line, causing an offsides. Then Koivunen got the puck on a 2-on-1 and held onto it for far too long, allowing the sliding defender to thwart the play. Whether it’s the game going too fast or Koivunen going too slow, something is a beat off there. Timing can be tricky coming back from an injury but at the same time the performance has to be more crisp there and likely in a hurry to prove he can be better than this at the NHL level.

• Not playing one of Broz or Kindel in the past few days so that Joona Koppanen can play 10ish minutes and a few shorthanded shifts is certainly a choice, and not a good one. Hayes scored last game and got promoted to the top line and that wasn’t a fit either. The roster isn’t ideal but some of the decisions and placement have been questionable to hurt as well.

• Nice game for Rust, took a lickin’ but kept on tickin’. Nothing new for him, his style is going to demand taking some bumps along the way, scoring a goal for the second straight game was a huge moment to answer Columbus’s late goal in the second.

• CBJ has played eight OT games in their last 11, going past the distance is par for the course for them. The Pens were 0-5 in games that lasted over 60 minutes before tonight, finally getting the second point in overtime contests.

• Great job by Novak to contribute two primary assists. Six of his seven assists this season have come that way. When he has the time and space to operate he can work some magic, that little feint in overtime was a great move to help open up the goalie.

• Impressive comeback win for the Pens to enter the third on the road down two goals and get a result. This kind of game makes up for some of the earlier games in the season when they had been on the other end of nights like this to play well but stumble

Quick turn for the Pens, back in action tomorrow night at home when the slumping Maple Leafs come for a visit.