Recap: Columbus vs. Pittsburgh

Sports Network | October 30, 2009

Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to take a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Crosby, Pittsburgh's second shooter, sent a wrister on net that Steve Mason swallowed with the pads, but his momentum carried him across the goalline.

Kristian Huselius was Columbus' last chance and made a nice move to get to the backhand, but Brent Johnson gloved the shot to hold on for the win.

Crosby added two assists while Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who improved to 6-0-0 as the visitors this season. Johnson stopped 29 shots in the win.

"There were areas of the game we did not play well," said Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. "We knew that going into the third we had 20 minutes left to put an effort out there to see what happened. That's how we approach wins and losses and periods. The guys went out and played a good third period and hung in there and stuck with it and found a way to pull out the win. It's an important part of what is in that room."

Pittsburgh played its first game of the season without star center Evgeni Malkin, who will miss the next few weeks with a strained right shoulder. He had played in 254 consecutive games prior to the injury.

Rick Nash had two goals while Derek Dorsett lit the lamp once for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped three straight. Mason made 29 stops in the loss.

Trailing by two late in regulation, Pittsburgh tied the game with two goals separated by 39 seconds.

While attacking in the Columbus end, the puck came out to Martin Skoula at the right point. Skoula's shot missed the net, but it bounced off the backboards to the left side, where Ruslan Fedotenko slammed it home with 2:56 left.

The Penguins continued to apply pressure and the work paid off. Crosby had the puck behind the left side of the net and sent it to the high slot for Alex Goligoski, who slid to the right and snapped a shot into the left corner of the net with 2:17 to play.

A spirited overtime period went scoreless as the teams went to the shootout.

"It should have never got to the shootout," said Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock. "We did everything well but get the game shut down. We're up 3-1, we have to get it shut down."

Skating on the power play, Columbus took a 1-0 lead late in the first. The puck had popped out to the right circle and Derick Brassard cranked a shot on net. Johnson made the stop, but the rebound kicked out front and Nash banged it in from his knees with 1:47 left.

At the 5:37 mark of the second period the Blue Jackets made it a 2-0 game, as Nash's one-timer from the right circle got past Johnson for his eighth goal of the season.

The Penguins got on the board with 8:05 to play while shorthanded. Crosby had the puck behind the net and sent it to the low left side, where Kunitz one- timed it past Mason.

Columbus, though, got the goal back six minutes later. Just moments after a Blue Jackets penalty expired, Samuel Pahlsson caught up with a puck in the Pittsburgh end at the left side and quickly dished it to the slot for Dorsett, who slipped a low backhander past Johnson for a 3-1 lead.

The teams split the two-game series last season, as each team won at home...Pittsburgh hosts Minnesota on Saturday...Columbus plays in Washington on Sunday...Columbus went 1-for-7 on the power play while Pittsburgh was 0- for-5.