After the first forty minutes of play, the Penguins looked like they would finally coast against the seventh seeded Blue jackets to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
When the horn sounded at the end of the game, however, there was a sense of relief.
Evgeni Malkin scored a hat trick and Brandon Sutter added his third goal of the series en route to a 4-3 win over Columbus. The Penguins, leading by a seemingly comfortable 4-0 margin, ended up barely edging out the upstart Blue Jackets who scored three goals in the final ten minutes to make the game much closer than expected.
Malkin, who hadn’t scored in nine straight playoff games, became the story of Game 6 with three goals. Chris Kunitz took the puck along the half boards before finding Malkin in the right wing circle. Malkin corralled the puck before shooting a perfect wrist shot past Bobrovsky on the stick side 9:11 into the first period.
Four minutes later, Malkin scored his second goal of the game, this time on the power play. Malkin got the puck in the middle of the slot and fired another wrist shot that went off the post and in the net.
As the Columbus power play expired in the beginning of the second period, Brandon Sutter chipped the puck forward and skated in on Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway. Sutter faked the forehand shot before lifting a backhander that went over the right shoulder of the net minder and in the net to make it 3-0 just 34 seconds in.
Malkin added his third goal of the night late in the second period when he led a two on one rush with James Neal. Malkin looked off the defender before bringing the puck into a shooting position and rifling it past Bobrovsky on the stick side.
Halfway through the third period the Penguins looked like they would cruise to victory, but a shorthanded goal by Fedor Tyutin cut the lead to three 10:21 into the final frame.
Three minutes later, Artem Anisimov scored on the power play to make it a 4-2 game. The Blue Jackets nearly scored again when Ryan Johansen had a partial breakaway off the face off that was stop by Marc-Andre Fleury.
Less than two minutes after Anisimov’s goal, the Blue Jackets did score to make it 4-3. Fedor Tyutin’s slap pass from the point was deflected through the five-hole of Fleury by Nick Foligno.
The Blue Jackets kept coming wave after wave but could not tie the score despite playing with the goaltender pulled in the final two minutes of the game.
In the end, the Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals where they will face the winner of the New York Rangers-Philadelphia Flyers series.
Three Stars
- Evgeni Malkin
- Fedor Tyutin
- Matt Niskanen
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
