The Blue Jackets took it to the Penguins on Friday night and beat them handedly, 5-2.
Five minutes into the first, the Blue Jackets hemmed the Penguins in their own zone, which lead to a shot by Bjorkstrand and a deflection out front by Nyquist to put CBJ on the board. With two minutes left in the first, the Jackets give up a two-on-one and Malkin flips the puck over Werenski to Guentzel, who out waited Korpisalo to tie the game.
26 seconds into the second, Foligno steals a pass by Malkin, skates into the slot and fires the puck past Jarry's blocker to put the Jackets back up by one. While on the power play, the Jackets fended off a couple of chances by the Pens before setting up in the Pittsburgh zone and opened up a lane for Nyquist out front and he backhanded the puck in. With under five minutes left in the 2nd, Foligno received the puck from Wennberg out front on the power play and slid the puck under Jarry to increase the lead to 3.
Five minutes into the third after killing a penalty, Letang received perfect set up pass from Guentzel and blasted a shot past Kopri to cut the Jackets lead to two. But that was all they could muster in the third. Meanwhile after getting out of the box with less than a minute left, Nyquist beat Letang to the icing and put the puck in the back to the net to seal the victory and pick up the hat trick.
Let's get into tonight's three things.
Sustained Pressure
The Blue Jackets kept the puck in multiple times, which led to defensive breakdowns by the Penguins. On one occasion, the puck found it's way to Bjorkstrand's stick and banked in off Nyquist's behind while he was out front trying to screen Jarry.
Off the pic.twitter.com/8XORxIKbsy
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 30, 2019
His first of three on the night.
Two For Foligno
Foligno doubled his goal output this season tonight by stealing a pass from Malkin and firing a wrister past Jarry, then taking a pass from Wennberg on the power play and sliding the puck underneath Jarry.
This power play level is over 9000.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/9iFrXOMfTT
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) November 30, 2019
Foligno has played well since returning from his suspension and will likely see an increased role moving forward because unlike some of the other veterans on the team, he is producing.
Korpi-Solid
It is tough for a goalie to get into a rhythm when he sees less than 10 shots in net in the first half of the game, but despite the two-on-one goal against, Korpisalo continued his string dominant performances in net for the Jackets. If there was any doubts about Korpi at the start of the season, they should be gone now.
