The Penguins were up early by a three goal margin and were 24 seconds away from going up 3-1 on the Columbus Blue Jackets in the series.
Instead, the Penguins will head back to Pittsburgh looking for their third win on Saturday.
Brandon Dubinsky scored in the last minute of regulation to tie the game after a misplay behind the net by Marc-Andre Fleury. Just 2:49 into overtime, Nick Foligno scored to complete the comeback as the Blue Jackets won 4-3, Wednesday night.
Craig Adams got the Penguins on the board 6:49 into the opening frame with a shorthanded goal. Brandon Sutter took the puck off the boards and skated ahead with Adams developing a 2 on 1 opportunity. Sutter passed to Adams who beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a perfect wrist shot on the far side.
Four minutes later, Chris Kunitz deflected a slap shot by Matt Niskanen for his first goal of the series on the power play.
Just 33 seconds later, James Neal whipped a shot on goal past Bobrovsky to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead with 9:23 remaining in the first period.
Everything was looking up for the Penguins, who had scored six goal in their last two periods of play and appeared to gain control of a surprisingly difficult series. But a power play goal by Boone Jenner late in the first period gave the Blue Jackets life.
Lee Stempniak took a double minor for hi-sticking and then a delay of game penalty by Brandon Sutter gave Columbus a long 5 on 3 power play. Artem Anisimov center a pass to Ryan Johansen who slammed the puck into a wide open net to cut the Pittsburgh lead to one.
In the third, the Jackets had a golden chance when Matt Calvert skated around Brooks Orpik for a breakaway, but the shot by Calvert hit the crossbar. From there, the Penguins started to lock down defensively and appeared to be closing out the game.
Then, with under thirty seconds to go, Jack Johnson dumped the puck in behind the net. Fleury went out to slow it down but the puck hopped over his stick and landed right on the blade of Johansen who then found Dubinsky in front of the net with a wide open chance. Dubinsky buried the shot and forced over time.
In overtime, Nick Foligno’s long wrister off the rush beat Marc-Andre Fleury and the Blue Jackets left with a much-needed win.
Three Stars
- Brandon Dubinsky
- Nick Foligno
- Ryan Johansen
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
