Despite a third-period comeback, Sidney Crosby's hat trick helped the Penguins prevail 5-3 over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday at Nationwide Arena and have now lost six straight games.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| PIT PENGUINS | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
1st Period
Crosby opened the scoring at 4:10 with a sharp-angle shot from the right goal line.
An inexcusable goal given up by #CBJ Merzlikins (90), who was beaten by Crosby (87) from a sharp angle. PIT 1-0 CBJ https://t.co/B5kvY383Xx
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
After helping Ivan Provorov take the puck away from Evgeni Malkin, Kirill Marchenko lugged the puck down the right wing, deked around Ryan Shea, and backhanded a shot past Tristan Jarry to tie the game at 10:29.
#CBJ Provorov (9) and Marchenko (86) combine to take the puck away from #LetsGoPens Malkin (71) and Marchenko puts forth an incredible individual effort to deke around Shea (5) and fire a backhand shot past Jarry (35). PIT 1-1 CBJ https://t.co/oZ2jmDefeW
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
Yegor Chinakhov scored his first goal of the season at 19:28 when he fired a wrist shot from the right circle through Boone Jenner and past Jarry.
#CBJ Chinakhov (59) takes the space given to him in the right circle and fires a puck past #LetsGoPens Jarry (35), who was screened by Jenner (38). PIT 1-2 CBJ https://t.co/xVFmEfNzIJ
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
On the goal, Zach Werenski posted the 174th assist of his career, setting a new record for Blue Jackets defensemen.
With the second assist on Chinakhov's goal, Zach Werenski has surpassed Seth Jones (50-173-223, 381 GP) for the most career assists by a defenseman in franchise history with 80-174-254 in 430 games since making his NHL debut in 2016-17. #CBJ https://t.co/hKQ2WgzAL2
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) November 15, 2023
After 20 minutes, the Blue Jackets led 2-1 while trailing 12-6 in shots on goal.
2nd Period
Jake Guentzel tied the game from his knees in the low slot after picking up a centering pass from Crosby, who won a puck battle against Cole Sillinger, at 7:04.
#LetsGoPens Crosby (87) won a puck battle against #CBJ Sillinger (4) and centered a pass towards Hinostroza (13) who couldn't corral it before Guentzel (58) scored from his knees between Gudbranson (44) and Werenski (8) from the low slot. PIT 2-2 CBJ https://t.co/iJqg8SsRNl
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
Lars Eller had a chance to give Pittsburgh the lead at 18:19 with a one-timer from the left slot, but Merzlikins made the save.
At 19:41, Adam Fantilli's toe-drag wrist shot from the right circle on the power play was denied by Jarry.
The teams headed to the third period tied at two with Pittsburgh leading 24-19 in shots on goal.
3rd Period
Merzlikins made a huge save to keep the game tied on Drew O'Connor from the left slot at 6:25, and then Dmitri Voronkov blocked Erik Karlsson's ensuing shot at what was a half-open cage at 6:31.
After a long shift where the Blue Jackets couldn't clear the zone, Malkin found Karlsson at the top of the left circle with a cross-ice feed that Karlsson fired past Merzlikins to give Pittsburgh the lead at 8:40.
At the end of a long shift where the #CBJ couldn't clear the zone, #LetsGoPens Malkin (71) finds Karlsson (65) with a cross-ice pass that Karlsson fires past Merzlikins (90). PIT 3-2 CBJ https://t.co/DOpKrpDI93
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
Bryan Rust had the opportunity to double Pittsburgh's lead at 10:37 on a breakaway but Merzlikins denied him with a glove save.
Alexandre Texier tied the game at 11:45 from the left doorstep after he received Sean Kuraly's cross-crease feed after Justin Danforth won a puck battle and chipped the puck to Kuraly.
#CBJ Danforth (17) won a puck battle against #LetsGoPens Graves (27), chipped the puck to Kuraly (7), who's feed found Texier (42) at the left doorstep. PIT 3-3 CBJ https://t.co/cXp35uegv1
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
Crosby gave the Penguins the lead at 14:28 when he deflected Karlsson's right-point shot from the right doorstep past Merzlikins.
#LetsGoPens Crosby (87) was left wide open at the right doorstep where he deflected Karlsson's (65) past Merzlikins (90). PIT 4-3 #CBJ https://t.co/JLjLQ4O9bA
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
After the Blue Jackets failed to exit their defensive zone, Crosby made them pay, taking the puck and scoring on the empty net to complete his hat trick at 19:23.
#LetsGoPens Crosby goal pic.twitter.com/IGcNKg0Qiq
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 15, 2023
The Blue Jackets lost 5-3 and dropped to 4-8-4.
Stats
- Shots on Goal: PIT 43-31 CBJ
- Face-off %: PIT 50.9-49.1 CBJ
- Power play: PIT 0/1-0/4 CBJ
- Giveaways: PIT 1-2 CBJ
- Takeaways: PIT 4-3 CBJ
- Blocked shots: PIT 9-22 CBJ
- Hits: PIT 9-14 CBJ
-
5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
- Expected Goals (xG): PIT 2.72-2.24 CBJ
- Shot Attempts (CF): PIT 65-41 CBJ
- Shots on Goal (SF): PIT 35-21 CBJ
- Scoring Chances (SCF): PIT 26-21 CBJ
- High-Danger Chances (HDCF): PIT 12-7 CBJ
Injury Update
The Blue Jackets placed forward Jack Roslovic on IR on Monday with a fractured ankle expected to sideline him for four to six weeks.
Next Up
The Blue Jackets are back at it on Thursday when they host the Arizona Coyotes at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
The club will travel to D.C. to take on the Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
