Blue Jackets at Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves on the wrong side of the playoff picture after losing five of seven to drop into seventh place in the competitive Metropolitan Division. The sputtering Penguins hope their march back into contention begins on Wednesday as they return from the Christmas break to host the rival Columbus Blue Jackets.
"It's disappointing. We were hoping we'd get some traction from (a 3-2 shootout win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday), but it didn't work out that way," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. The Penguins' will have an opportunity to make up ground with seven of their next 14 games against Metropolitan Division rivals. Columbus has cooled off a bit with losses in four of seven and will be forced to cope with the expected four-to-six weeks absences of last season's all-everything Cam Atkinson (broken foot) and Alexander Wennberg (back). "We just have to deal with it," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "It's going to be a great test for our depth, and a great opportunity for some other guys to play more significant roles right now, and we'll just have to deal with it."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), AT&TSN-Pittsburgh
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (22-13-2): Columbus has some improvement from its league-worst power play with a man-advantage goal in each of its last four games and a 6-for-26 output over its last nine. Defenseman Seth Jones has been doing his part in that regard, as he carries a four-game power-play point streak (two goals, two assists) into Wednesday's contest. Artemi Panarin, who scored a power-play goal in last week's encounter versus Pittsburgh, will skate in his 200th game on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (18-16-3): Evgeni Malkin scored a goal in his third straight game against Columbus to increase his point total to 11 (five goals, six assists) in 10 games in December before joining his teammates in being blanked by Anaheim prior to the Christmas break. Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby found themselves venting frustration late in the second period of the first meeting with Columbus, as the former was given five minutes for fighting captain Nick Foligno while the latter received an uncharacteristic roughing double minor versus Jones. Ignited by the physical play, the Penguins scored twice in the third period and Malkin tallied in the shootout as the Penguins rallied to win.
OVERTIME
1. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves in the first encounter versus Pittsburgh, dropping to 11-6-3 in his career against the club.
2. The Penguins scored twice on the power play in the first meeting, marking their lone bright spot as that total is part of a 2-for-20 stretch.
3. The Blue Jackets have benefited from fast starts, posting a 16-3-2 mark when scoring the first goal of the game