The Columbus Blue Jackets are back home for the first time in five games with a “rivalry” matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Metropolitan Division foes.
This is the last time these teams will meet until sometime in the preseason or regular season in 2024-2025. They last played on Thursday in a regulation loss at PPG Paints where they haven’t won there in over a decade.
The Jackets understand the tanking assignment, to get towards the top three in the draft class. Best player available is the mission. Preferably a franchise center and goaltender. Hard finds to keep. If they win they will make the Pens’ lives difficult and force them to keep this year’s pick and next year goes to San Jose. Punish them at any cost.
This is also Jeff Rimer’s retirement salute-gate. This evening, we will be celebrating the illustrious career of the longest play-by-play voice of the Blue Jackets. After 20 years of going over almost every game as the action occurs, the man gets his recognition in front of the most packed house before the season ends. After nearly six decades of work, Rimer gets to enjoy his retirement effective April 16. After runs in western Canada; the CFL; and both with Washington and Florida; thank you Jeff!
Ryan Graves is out for this game after getting injured. Ryan Shea was recalled. TFW and Pyyhita were sent to Cleveland to help with their push, and Alex Nylander returns to the top line. Adam Fantilli may be shut down for the season per Paz.
This matchup will have Elvis Merzlikins and Tristan Jarry as the starting goaltenders.
Projected Lineups
Pittsburgh Penguins
Drew O'Connor -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting -- Evgeni Malkin -- Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith -- Lars Eller -- Valtteri Puustinen
Jeff Carter -- Sam Poulin -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Pierre-Olivier Joseph -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea -- Jack St. Ivany
Alex Nedeljkovic
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: John Ludvig, Emil Bemstrom
Injured: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Jansen Harkins (hand surgery), Noel Acciari (lower body), Ryan Graves (upper body)
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Alex Nylander
Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko
Mikael Pyyhtia -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Mathieu Olivier
James Malatesta -- Brendan Gaunce -- Carson Meyer
Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson
Jake Bean -- Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen -- Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: None
Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration), Patrik Laine (upper body), Justin Danforth (concussion), Sean Kuraly (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body)
Players to Watch
Pittsburgh — Sidney Crosby — 9 points in his last 3 games. Only reason this team has a pulse with Geno and Letang.
Columbus — Zach Werenski — 6 points in last 5.
Predicted Final Score
PIT
CBJ
What’s Next?
Season Series Recap
Enjoy this reaction feedback from the preseason through Thursday on the games they played and what happened this season between Columbus and Pittsburgh.
Preseason
CBJ @ PIT Results
The Columbus Blue Jackets comeback to fall to the Pittsburgh Penguins by the final score of 3-2 in the shootout.
Period 1
Two short handed goals was all the Penguins needed to get through to the extra time.
Alex Nylander has the first goal of the preseason for the Penguins. Radim Zohorna and Peter Abbandonato had the assists. (0-1)
Pierre-Oliver Joseph had the final Pens’ goal of regulation. Chad Ruhwedel and Drew O’Connor had the apples.
Period 2
Nothing on the scoreboard occurred.
Period 3
Jack Roslovic got the first Columbus goal of the preseason off the powerplay. Emil Bemstrom and Adam Boqvist had the assists.
Owen Sillinger tied the game in the final minutes of regulation from David Jiricek.
Shootout
Alex Nylander and Brayden Yager had the shootout goals for the Pens to get the victory
Jet Greaves had 15 saves on 17 shots for a 0.892 save percentage.
Aaron Dell stopped all 11 shots faced.
Joel Blomqvist had identical stats to Greaves.
Alex Nedjelkovic stopped all 18 shots faced.
CBJ THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Owen Sillinger - GTG (1)
2. Jack Roslovic - PPG (1)
3. David Jiricek - assist (1)
CBJ V PIT Results
Period I
Alexandre Texier opened the scoring in front of the home crowd. The first home goal was assisted by rookie superstar Adam Fantilli and Patrik Laine. (1-0)
Jonathan Gruden evened the game for the visitors. Cole Andonvoski and Jagger Joshua had the helpers. (1-1)
Carson Meyer replied less than a minute later to recover the Columbus lead. Martin Rysavy had the lone apple. (2-1)
Samuel Poulin brought the scoring back to even with less than 30 seconds to go. (2-2)
Period II
Carson Meyer scored his second of the game with a short handed goal after the halfway point. Fantilli had his second assist of the night. (3-2)
Austin Wagner got the Pens the tie maker. Austin Rueschoff had the assist. (3-3)
Period III
No scoring
Overtime
Jordan Dumais gets the overtime winner from Kent Johnson and Denton Mateychuk. (4-3)
Elvis Merzlikins had 26 saves on 29 shots.
Magnus Hellberg had 32 saves on 36 shots.
CBJ THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Carson Meyer - 2 goals (2)
2. Jordan Dumais - OT GWG (1)
3. Adam Fantilli - 2 assists
Game I
The Columbus Blue Jackets were stepped on by the superstars of the Pittsburgh Penguins by the final score of 5-3.
Period I
Sidney Crosby opened the scoring of the game for his first of the night and eighth of the season. Marcus Petterson and Erik Karlsson, my Pittsburgh player to watch, had the assist.
Kirill Marchenko got the first home goal unassisted for his fourth of the year.
Yegor Chinakov got the go ahead goal for his first of the season. Erik Gubdranson, my Columbus player to watch, and Zach Werenski had the assists.
Period II
Jake Guentzel evened the game at two for his sixth of the year from Vinnie Hinostroza and Crosby.
Period III
EK65 got the go ahead goal for the Pens for his fifth in his Pittsburgh career from Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell.
Alexandre Texier brought the game back to even for the final time of the game. His goal was his third back in North America. Sean Kuraly got his first assist of the year, being this year’s Marchenko. Justin Danforth had the secondary assist.
Crosby’s second of the night and ninth this season is from Karlsson and Guentzel.
Sid’s hat-trick goal game in the final minute of the game from Bryan Rust on the empty net.
Karlsson was my Penguins’ player to watch, recording a goal and assist against Columbus, with a +1 and two shots on goal in 22:34.
Tristan Jarry allowed 3 goals on 27 shots for a 0.900 save percentage.
Gudbranson, my Columbus player to watch, had a primary assist while being -1 in 18:15TOI.
Elvis allowed 4 goals on 40 shots for a 0.900 save percentage.
Marchenko’s four goals all came in the 7 games in the month of November.
Texier’s three goals came in the last 5 games.
Chinakov’s goal was his first game since November 25, 2022.
16 games was it it took for Kuraly to get his first assist, while having 5 goals previous.
Erik Gudbranson is on a three game point streak with four assists. All 7 of his points came in the seven games in November.
Elvis has not won a game since November 2nd; when he has a 0.931 save percentage. When he has been under 0.930 this season in his 11 starts, he has only won once. Tough look. Goaltending is the weakness.
CBJ THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Kirill Marchenko - goal (4)
2. Alexandre Texier - goal (3)
3. Yegor Chinakov - goal (1)
Game II
The Pittsburgh Penguins are beginning their march in March with a 5-3 victory over Columbus.
Period I
Jesse Puljujarvi opened the scoring with his first as a member of the Penguins. Ryan Graves had the assist.
Evgeni Malkin got the go-ahead goal for the home team for his 18th of the season from Reilly Smith and Graves.
Period II
The road club began the scoring of the second period with two goals in a 37 second span.
Johnny Gaudreau got his 10th of the season from Jack Roslovic and Zach Werenski. This was Werenski’s 200th career assist. He is the first Blue Jackets’ defenseman to ever record 200 assists in franchise history. He is only the third skater to ever record 200 career assists, joining assistant general manager Rick Nash and David Vyborny.
Andrew Peeke evened the game with his first of the regular season with the assists to Jake Bean and Alexandre Texier.
Rickard Rakell got a powerplay goal for his ninth of the season unassisted.
Period III
Jack Roslovic got a shorthanded goal to the tie the game at 3 a piece. His fifth of the season came from Peeke.
Former Blue Jackets’ legend Jeff Carter got the eventual game winning power play goal 22 seconds later for his eighth of the season from the other former Blue Jacket Emil Bemstrom and Smith.
Smith got his second of the night for his 11th of the year from Geno.
Players to Watch
Bemstorm had the primary assist on Carter’s game winner.
Alex Nylander was held off the board.
Goalies
Tristan Jarry allowed 3 goals on 35 shots for a 0.914
Jet Greaves allowed 5 goals on 31 shots against for a 0.839 save percentage.
CBJ THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Jack Roslovic — goal (5), assist (17)
2. Andrew Peeke — goal (1), assist (7)
3. Zach Werenski — franchise assist history for defense (200)
Game III
Period I
18 shots between the two teams and an Erik Gudbranson minor penalty.
Period II
Early Sam Poulin minor penalty. Seconds after the time expired, Mathieu Olivier got the game’s first goal. His fourth of the season was assisted by Damon Severson and Cole Sillinger.
A Damon Severson penalty led to the first of two Penguins’ powerplay goals. Evgeni Malkin evened the game at one all and earning himself his 20th goal of the regular season. Kristopher Letang and Bryan Rust had the assists.
Sillinger’s goal was the road team’s final goal for the road team. His 12th tally of the campaign was supported by Alexandre Texier and Ivan Provorov.
A captain penalty for Geno his second goal of the evening and 21st of the year with the assists to Sidney Crosby and Michael Bunting.
Period III
Drew O’Connor got the game winning goal just 35 seconds into the third period for his 12th of the season with the assists going to Crosby and Pierre-Oliver Jospeh.
Players to Watch
Michael Bunting had the secondary assist on the game tying goal. His seventh point in 11 games as a Penguin.
TFW was a late scratch and did not account for that in my morning writing.
Goaltenders
Alex Nedeljkovic had 17 saves on 19 shots for a 0.895 save percentage.
Daniil Tarasov had 33 saves on 36 shots against for a 0.917 save percentage.
CBJ THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Cole Sillinger — goal (12), assist (15)
2. Daniil Tarasov — 33 saves, 91.7 SV%
3. Mathieu Olivier — goal (4)
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