PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko scored in the shootout to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 on Saturday night.
The Blue Jackets won for just the second time in their last 18 trips to Pittsburgh when Penguins star Evgeni Malkin fired wide of the net and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins in the final round of the shootout.
Dmitri Voronkov scored twice for Columbus. His second of the night 4:54 into the third period put the Blue Jackets up two and put Columbus in position to beat the Penguins in regulation in Pittsburgh for the first time since November 2015.
Pittsburgh rallied to force the extra session when Kris Letang and Bryan Rust scored their first goals of the season two minutes apart late in the third period.
Mirzlikins finished with 24 saves, including a sprawling save of Malkin in overtime in which he stopped the shot with his glove only to see it flutter over him toward the Columbus net before a teammate knocked it out of harm’s way.
Yegor Chinakhov and Charlie Coyle scored their first goals of the season for Columbus, which bounced back from a 5-1 loss to Washington on Friday night by carrying play for long stretches against the Penguins.
Letang and Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Ryan Shea scored his first of the season for the Penguins. Malkin finished with two assists to boost his career point total to 1,360 and move him past Hall of Famer Mike Modano and into 10th on the NHL’s list for most points by a player with one franchise.
The 39-year-old Malkin now has 14 points through nine games for Pittsburgh, which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. Arturs Silovs made 36 saves but failed to stop any of Columbus’ three shootout attempts.
The result put a small damper on a night in which the Penguins honored former coaches Scotty Bowman and Eddie Johnston and forwards Kevin Stevens and Ron Francis by inducting them into the club’s revamped Hall of Fame.
Up next
Blue Jackets: At Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Penguins: Host St. Louis on Monday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
