Penguins beat Blue Jackets in shootout
PITTSBURGH -- Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby scored in the shootout Wednesday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame three two-goal deficits to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins' Jake Guentzel scored with 1:40 left in the third period to force a 4-4 tie. Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel and Malkin also scored for Pittsburgh.
Sonny Milano and Boone Jenner staked Columbus to a 2-0 lead in the first before leading scorer Artemi Panarin scored once in the second and once in the third for a 4-2 lead.
Pittsburgh (19-16-3) finished its homestand 2-1-0. The Penguins were 2-5-0 in their previous seven games.
Mike Sullivan improved to 5-1-1 as Pittsburgh coach against Columbus and his mentor, coach John Tortorella. The Penguins have won five in a row at home against the Blue Jackets.
Columbus (22-13-3) is 2-2-2 in its past six games.
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray, who had 29 saves, is 3-3-0 in his sixth straight start since coming back from a lower-body injury. He stopped Pierre-Luc Dubois and Panarin in the shootout.
Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves.
Four of the past five meetings between the teams have gone to overtime.
Unlike their meeting last Thursday in Pittsburgh, a 3-2 Penguins shootout win, this game did not feature fights and hot tempers.
Milano, up on emergency recall, gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 9:06 of the first. From the right circle, Seth Jones drew Murray to that side of the crease. Jones, however, banked the puck off the end boards to the bottom of the far circle, where Milano had plenty of room to put the puck behind Murray.
The Blue Jackets made it 2-0 at 14:34 of the first when Jenner sent the puck past Murray's blocker from 15 feet off the rush.
Sheary's 10th goal was Pittsburgh's first five-on-five goal at home since Dec. 9, a stretch of 231:33. He made it 2-1 at 5:57 of the second when he moved in from the right point and, from the dot, beat Bobrovsky with a shot that went off the inside of the goalie's right elbow.
The Penguins looked stronger in the second and continued to generate shots and chances, but Columbus got the next goal.
Panarin increased his team-leading point total to 32 when he pulled up near the top of the right circle, deftly shaking defending Penguins winger Bryan Rust, and sailed a shot under the crossbar to make it 3-1 at 16:49.
Pittsburgh got back within 3-2 on Kessel's power-play goal at 3:34 of the third. His blast from the left circle hit Bobrovsky and then trickled over the goal line.
Panarin struck again at 10:02 of the third to make it 4-2. On a two-on-one, Murray stopped Josh Anderson, but Panarin pounced on a rebound to score from in tight.
The Penguins closed it to 4-3 on Malkin's goal at 14:24, seven seconds into a power play. Kessel's shot again squirted through Bobrovsky, and Malkin reached behind the goalie to finish the play.
Guentzel tied it 4-4 with 1:40 left in regulation. He batted in a cross-crease pass from Patric Hornqvist, who picked up his 200th career assist on the play.
The Penguins thought they won on a Crosby goal 23 seconds into overtime, but after a review it was ruled that defenseman Brian Dumoulin had interfered with Bobrovsky.
NOTES: Pittsburgh D Chad Ruhwedel left in the second period after a collision with Columbus C Boone Jenner, and Pittsburgh RW Bryan Rust left in the third. ... Pittsburgh D Kris Letang (lower body injury) missed his first game of the season and is day-to-day. ... Pittsburgh D Matt Hunwick returned after missing one game due to illness. ... Columbus C Alexander Wennberg (back) and RW Cam Atkinson (foot) were placed on IR. ... Columbus C Tyler Motte and D Dean Kukan were recalled, LW Sonny Milano and LW Jordan Schroeder were added on emergency recall, all from AHL Cleveland. ... Columbus D Zach Werenski (upper body injury) participated in the morning skate but missed his fourth straight game. ... The game marked the start of a stretch of six in nine games within the Metropolitan Division for Pittsburgh, while Columbus plays its next 13 outside the division.