Pittsburgh’s dominance over Columbus continues once again with a dominating 5-1 regulation outing in their turf. Pittsburgh has won ten straight games against Columbus. This is the second time this season Pitt has put up 5 goals against Cbus.
Columbus opened the scoring with a dirty power play goal from Swedish winger Gustav Nyquist for his 16th goal of the campaign. This was also his 3rd power play goal in the season, totaling 7 special teams goals for Nyquist. Zach Werenski got the primary assist as he got the initial shot off, and Jakub Voracek got the assist for helping Werenski load his shot from the blue line.
The Penguins came back with 5 unanswered. Radim Zohorna evened the contest with 2nd of the season; veterans Brian Boyle and Chad Ruhwedel had the first assists for the home team. Jake Guentzel’s first of the game and 30th of the season would stand as the game winner. Sidney Crosby’s primary assist counts for his 40th of the season. Evan Rodrigues got the secondary. Bryan Rust extended the lead with an unassisted goal for his 21st on the season. Guentzel’s second was his 31st; Crosby and Michael Matheson got the helpers. The last goal came from Evgeni Malkin for his 12th of the year; Rust and Sid had the helpers.
Tristian Jarry stopped 26 of 27 for a 0963 save percentage; Joonas Korpisalo stopped 32 of 37 for a 0.865 save percentage. Bjorkstrand and Rakell were my players to Watch, and both were pointless.
CBJ Three Stars of the Game
1. Gustav Nyquist— PPG (16), 17:06 TOI, -1
2. Zach Werenski— assist (31), 21:09 TOI, -1
3. Jakub Voracek— assist (42), 17:09 TOI, -3