The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost a second straight game after entering the third period tied with a division rival, this time falling 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Consol Energy Center on Thursday night.
This time, it was a back-breaking shorthanded goal from Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky that put the Penguins away as they blundered yet another power play chance.
The Penguins power play has now gone nine games and 20 power play chances without a goal, and at 17:43 of the third period, Blake Comeau turned the puck over exiting his own zone. Fedor Tyutin collected the loose puck and Matt Calvert came in on a partial breakaway. Marc-Andre Fleury made the initial save, but Steve Downie failed to mark Dubinsky on the back-check and he had a wide-open net.
Dubinsky had made waves earlier in the game with a second-period scrap with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. The pair had a hard-fought rivalry in last spring’s playoff series between the teams that seemed to carry over. It was just Crosby’s seventh NHL fight.
The Blue Jackets started the scoring off at 17:43 of the first period when Scott Hartnell made a nifty move to the forehand in tight to the Penguins goal. Alexander Wennberg and Tyutin assisted.
The Penguins answered with an Evgeni Malkin tally at 8:58 of the second period. He found a loose puck in the slot after Paul Martin made a nice play to swing wide down the right-wing board and take the puck to the net. Simon Despres earned the other assist.
Both goaltenders played extremely well in the early going, keeping the game scoreless through most of the first period. Fleury finished the night with 28 saves, while Curtis McElhinney made 29 to earn the win, his first in four career tries against the Penguins.
The Penguins loss was compounded by each of the other three teams at the top of the Metropolitan Division earning at least a point. The Penguins are now in fourth place, six points behind the division-leading New York Islanders.
