Since suffering a 4-3 overtime loss to Columbus in Game 2, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been accused of narcissism and one of their own suggested that sometimes they don’t play with enough desperation, but one thing no one has ever suggested is that these Penguins can’t score and tonight, that was enough to lead them to a 4-3 victory.
Pittsburgh was behind 2-0 just 3:18 minutes into the contest, but they bombarded Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky throughout the contest. The Penguins outshot the Blue Jackets in every period and 15-5 in the third frame.
The result is that Bobrovsky more than doubled Marc-Andre Fleury in saves (37 to 17) despite being on the losing end.
For a while it looked like Bobrovsky might be able to hold off the Penguins. It wasn’t until Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik scored in the dying seconds of the second period that the first cracks in his armor were shown.
Columbus’ Cam Atkinson quickly reestablished the two-goal edge early in the third period, but Pittsburgh broke out with three goals in the span of 2:13 minutes courtesy of Brandon Sutter, Lee Stempniak, and Jussi Jokinen.
Both teams have held 3-1 leads in this series and neither squad has been able to hold onto that edge.
Pittsburgh now has regain home ice advantage in this series and has a 2-1 lead.