Kessel's OT Winner Lifts Penguins By Blue Jackets 4-3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Phil Kessel celebrated the 800th game of his career in style, scoring twice, including the winner 3:15 into overtime to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the suddenly scuffling Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
Nick Bonino added his eighth for Pittsburgh and Patric Hornqvist scored his fifth goal in his last five games for the Penguins. Matt Murray stopped 28 shots as Pittsburgh drew within two points of second-place Columbus in the taut Metropolitan Division race.
Cam Atkinson capped a third-period rally with his 25th of the season for Columbus. Brandon Dubinsky and Alexander Wennberg also scored for the Blue Jackets. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 29 saves for Columbus, which is just 7-7-1 since going unbeaten (14-0-0) in December.
The Blue Jackets forced overtime behind late goals from Atkinson and Wennberg, but the Penguins earned the game's only power play in overtime when Atkinson was called for hooking when Sidney Crosby shook loose for a breakaway. Bobrovsky turned away Crosby's shot, but had no chance on Kessel's 17th of the season as he powered a loose puck into the empty net to inch Pittsburgh closer to rapidly cooling Columbus.
The Blue Jackets' perfect run through December included a 7-1 blowout over the defending Stanley Cup champions on Dec. 22, an exclamation point on a month of excellence that established Columbus as a legitimate threat in the NHL's toughest division.
The Penguins, like the Blue Jackets, have scuffled of late while Washington sprinted past both of them to the top of the Metropolitan. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan has preached that it's time for his team to play with a postseason mentality.
The process started with a businesslike 4-2 win over Nashville on Tuesday and continued three days later behind Murray, who made his eighth straight start while becoming the team's No. 1 goaltender while veteran Marc-Andre Fleury sits. Murray was spectacular at times, including a beautiful stop on a two-on-none against Nick Foligno and Brandon Saad in the second period.
By then, the Penguins already had a 2-0 lead thanks to a wrist shot by Kessel at the end of a long stretch of 5-on-5 dominance that made it seem as if Pittsburgh was on the power play. The Penguins kept it in the Columbus zone for more than a minute, with Kessel taking advantage of the exhausted Blue Jackets by whistling on by Bobrovsky at 13:37 of the first.
Hornqvist doubled it with just 92 seconds left in the period, though Matt Cullen did the heavy lifting. The 40-year-old forward, playing for the first time since Jan. 16 due to a foot injury, split the Columbus defense and moved Bobrovsky out of position while Hornqvist swooped in and tapped the puck across the goal line.
The Blue Jackets, however, rallied brilliantly. The Penguins came in unbeaten when leading after two periods (19-0-0) and appeared to be in control when Bonino whacked home a crossing pass from Jake Guentzel.
Nope.
Wennberg pulled the Blue Jackets within one just 29 seconds into the third when he collected a loose puck in the slot and fired it by Murray. Dubinsky tied it by standing at the right post and jamming home a loose puck.
NOTES: Kessel became the first player of the 2006 NHL Draft class to reach 800 games. The durable forward hasn't missed a game since the 2009-10 season. ... D Kris Letang picked up two assists. ... Columbus scratched Ds David Savard and Markus Nutivaara. ... The Penguins scratched D Chad Ruhwedel and F Tom Kuhnhackl.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Return home to face New Jersey on Saturday night, the first of four meetings between the clubs over the season's final two months.
Penguins: Travel to St. Louis on Saturday. The Blues shut out Pittsburgh 3-0 on Jan. 24.
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