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 The gap grew wider Monday when the NHL's two leading scorers,
centers Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, each contributed a goal in
the Penguins' 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets at Consol Energy Center
The first-place Penguins now hold a 16-point lead on the
seventh-place Blue Jackets.
"It was a hard-fought game, Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said.
"They came at us, they bring pucks to the net. They did a good job,
and our defense was tested as a result."
Although the division rivalry is new, the story remains the same for
the Blue Jackets. Pittsburgh improved to 8-1-1 its past 10 games
against Columbus, including 3-0 this season.
"You never want to go 0-3 against a division rival," Columbus left
winger Matt Calvert said. "They're four-point games, and you lose a
lot of points in the race."
The lineups that the Penguins and Blue Jackets put on the ice bore
little resemblance to their opening-night rosters. In fact, the
teams were without players making more than $46.6 million due to
injury or suspension.
For Pittsburgh, among the notable names missing were left winger
James Neal, suspended for five games, and defenseman Brooks Orpik,
placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. For Columbus,
right winger Marian Gaborik and last year's Vezina Trophy winner as
top goaltender in the NHL, Sergei Bobrovsky, will be missing for at
least the next four weeks.
After a scoreless first period, Malkin took matters into his own
hands early in the second by scoring a video-game-like goal.
After corralling a cross-ice pass from left winger Jussi Jokinen in
the neutral zone, Malkin busted down the right wing with speed,
muscled his way around Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin, put the
puck on his backhand, avoided the pokecheck of goaltender Curtis
McElhinney, then stuffed the puck into the left side of the net to
give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
"He finds ways to put the puck in the net regardless of the pressure
or what the goalie is doing to him," McElhinney said of Malkin.
The goal came at 4:16 and gave Malkin at least one point in seven
career games against Columbus. Malkin missed Pittsburgh's previous
two games due to a lower-body injury.
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The Penguins' second goal was far less spectacular. Left
winger Pascal Dupuis, positioned near the goal line, threw a
shot wildly toward the net that hit off of the equipment of
Crosby and deflected into the net at 8:52 of the third.
"I had some really pretty chances that didn't go in," Crosby
said. "That second (goal) ended up being important for us."
Less than 30 seconds after Crosby's goal, a scrum ensued that
saw coincidental roughing calls to Pittsburgh defenseman Simon
Despres and Columbus center Derek MacKenzie, as well as
10-minute misconducts to Columbus center Brandon Dubinsky and
Pittsburgh defenseman Robert Bortuzzo. Dubinsky also received a
game misconduct for something he said to the officials.
"In a critical game with the score the way it is, that's a guy
that we need on the bench so we can get him out on the ice,"
Columbus coach Todd Richards said.
The Blue Jackets finally solved Marc-Andre Fleury with less than
a minute left in the game and shortly after Fleury narrowly
missed an attempt at shooting into the empty net. Calvert took a
pass from center Mark Letestu and easily tapped it past Fleury
from in tight, but it proved to be too little, too late.
"It was just like a slap in the face, disappointed to not get a
goal and then right away they score," joked Fleury, who made 32
saves to earn his 17th win.
McElhinney turned aside 28 Pittsburgh shots.
NOTES: The Penguins recalled D Brian Dumoulin from AHL
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. ... The Blue Jackets recalled D Tim
Erixon from AHL Springfield. ... The NHL announced Monday that
Pittsburgh LW James Neal was suspended five games without pay
for kneeing Boston Bruins F Brad Marchand on Dec. 7. ... Going
into Monday's action, Columbus allowed the fewest giveaways
(165) in the Eastern Conference. ... Scratches for the Penguins
were Neal, Dumoulin and LW Harry Zolnierczyk. Scratches for the
Blue Jackets were RW Jack Skille, D Tim Erixon and D James
Wisniewski (upper-body injury). ... Pittsburgh is next in action
on Friday when it hosts the New Jersey Devils. Columbus will
host New Jersey on Tuesday. ... The official attendance was
18,520.
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