Game Preview: Gaudreau, Blankenburg Look To Stay Hot As Blue Jackets Battle Penguins Saturday Night

By Ed Francis on October 22, 2022 at 7:05 am
Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are 3-0-1 on the young season, outscoring the opposition 20-8 in four games.
© Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Penguins
 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
3–0–1 (7 points)
7:00 P.M. – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
NATIONWIDE ARENA 
COLUMBUS, OH
Bally Sports Ohio
ESPN+ (Out of Market)

For the first time since February, the Columbus Blue Jackets have the chance to go on a three-game winning streak.

And, from the "just imagining reading this sentence six months ago" department, Johnny Gaudreau and Nick Blankenburg are the reasons why. 

Gaudreau scored twice and Blankenburg picked up his second career goal in game-winning fashion in Columbus' come-from-behind win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. It was the second time in three nights that the Blue Jackets came back from down 2-0 to pick up two points in the standings. 

Getting it to three straight in the win column (and to .500 on the young season) will be a tall task: Saturday's opponent is the 3-0-1 Pittsburgh Penguins. A rival, yes, but a historically one-sided one. The Penguins won all four meetings last season, scoring five goals in three of the four contests and outscoring Columbus 18-8 in the series.

CBJ SEASON STATS PIT
2.80 GOALS FOR 5.00
4.00 GOALS AGAINST 2.00
0.0% POWER PLAY 31.3%
86.7% PENALTY KILL 72.2%
32.0 SHOTS FOR 40.0
33.6 SHOTS AGAINST 35.8
44.9% CF% (EVEN) 51.4%
53.7% FACEOFF % 57.7%
65.6 82-GAME POINT PACE 143.5
PROJECTIONS
38.5% MONEYPUCK'S ODDS TO WIN 61.5%
47.0% THE 538'S ODDS TO WIN 53.0%
CAESAR'S BETTING ODDS: PIT -178
PENGUINS: LAST THREE GAMES
THU, 10/20 VS. LOS ANGELES W, 6-1
MON, 10/17 @ MONTREAL OTL, 3-2
SAT, 10/15 VS. TAMPA BAY W, 6-2
PENGUINS: TEAM LEADERS
GOALS E. MALKIN / J. GUENTZEL 3
ASSISTS S. CROSBY 5
POINTS S. CROSBY 7

TALKING POINTS: PITTSBURGH

  • For years now, the talk every fall has been that this is finally the year that the Penguins' age will catch up with them. Early indications are to hold that thought. The Penguins have scored the most goals in the division (20) and have allowed the least (8). 
     
  • Saturday's game marks the beginning of a five-game road trip for Pittsburgh — their longest of the season. The Penguins make a trip to western Canada (and Seattle) when the weekend is over. 
     
  • There are four Penguins who have more points than games played. In Pittsburgh's four contests so far this year, the seemingly ageless Sidney Crosby has two goals and five assists for a total of seven points. Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and Bryan Rust each have five points.
     
  • The Penguins may be without one of those four players for Saturday's contest. While not officially ruled out as of Saturday morning, Guentzel seems unlikely to play after a pair of injuries in the third period of Thursday's 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Danton Heinen replaced Guentzel at practice Friday on the top line, playing left wing to Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. 
     
  • In 54 minutes of ice time, Pittsburgh's top line defensive pairing of Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin have not been on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal yet this season. It's Penguins: 4, Opposition: 0 when Letang and Dumoulin are covering the blue line. 

STORYLINES

  • A FEEL-GOOD STORY, OR SOMETHING MORE?
    Nick Blankenburg is only 11 games into his unexpected Blue Jackets career, but it seems as if the undrafted rookie could become a mainstay in the NHL. Columbus added Blankenburg in the spring after the club had spent a lot of time paying attention to Kent Johnson, his college teammate at Michigan. Blanks was the captain of that talented team, and the 5th Line has quickly found out why. The passion and personality is endearing, but Blankenburg has been significantly better than anticipated as a defender. Look for him to share second-pairing duties with Vladislav Gavrikov for a third straight game.
     
  • WANTED NEEDED: POWER PLAY GOAL
    The Blue Jackets are the only team in the league without a power play goal. They've had 13 attempts. The Penguins have allowed at least one power play goal in all four of their games and are 13-fot-18 (72.2%) on the kill this season. One of those streaks will come to an end Saturday. 
     
  • STRUGGLING SILLINGER
    There is one forward without a point in the club's first five games, and it's 19-year-old Cole Sillinger. With just over one hour on the ice so far, there's not a huge reason for concern. But it's worth noting, and the sooner Sillinger can shake that, the better — not only for him, but for the team.

     

PROJECTED LINES*

Updated: 7:05am

LW C RW
14 Gus  Nyquist 38 Boone Jenner 13 Johnny Gaudreau
91 Kent Johnson 34 Cole Sillinger 93 Jakub Voracek
17 Justin Danforth 96 Jack Roslovic 59 Yegor Chinakhov
50 Eric Robinson 7 Sean Kuraly 24 Mathieu Olivier
LD RD
8 Zach Werenski 2 Andrew Peeke
4 Vladislav Gavrikov 77 Nick Blankenburg
22 Jake Bean 44 Erik Gudbranson
Starting Goalie Backup
90 Elvis Merzlikins 40 Daniil Tarasov

*SUBJECT TO CHANGE

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