Game Preview: Blue Jackets Begin Three-Game Road Trip; Seek First Win In Pittsburgh Since 2015

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

38–16–9 (85 points; .675%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, MARCH 22ND PPG PAINTS ARENA  PITTSBURGH, PA

Bally Sports Ohio ESPN+ (Out of Network)

How long has it been since the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road?

Barack Obama was President, the newest iPhone was the 6S, and not only were the Vegas Golden Knights not in the NHL yet, but the city of Las Vegas hadn't even been awarded a franchise.

It's been 2,321 days — November 13th, 2015 — since the Blue Jackets picked up a win in Pittsburgh. No Columbus player in the lineup Tuesday was on the team for that game over a half-decade ago. The only player still with the organization is Boone Jenner, who remains sidelined with a back injury. 

In other words, it's been a while. 

The Blue Jackets look to change that Tuesday when they travel to the PPG Paints Arena to begin a three-game road trip. Columbus enters the matchup winners of four of their last five games, scoring 18 goals in the four wins.

Tuesday's game will be the first post-deadline game for both teams. Columbus traded Max Domi as part of a three-team trade that saw the forward end up a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, though were otherwise quiet Monday. Pittsburgh acquired forward Rickard Rakell from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Zach Aston-Reese and others. Rakell, 28, was in his 10th season with Anaheim, while Aston-Reese appeared in 213 games with the Penguins over the last five seasons. 

RE: PENS

Pittsburgh's acquisition of Rakell from the Ducks, who has a stat line of 16-12-28 in 51 games so far this season, gives the team a potent middle-six scorer as the Penguins look to usurp the Hurricanes as leaders of the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers are tied at 85 points a piece, three points behind Carolina in the standings.

While the Penguins are still very much Sidney Crosby's team, it's Jake Guentzel who leads the team in goals. Guentzel has 29 goals on the season, and is tied with Crosby for the team lead in points, at 61. Forward Bryan Rust, who has a stat line of 20-28-48, is the only other Pittsburgh forward with 40 or more points, though Evgeni Malkin has 25 points in just 27 games since returning from an injury earlier in the season. 

Backup goalie Casey DeSmith started the first two games (though was pulled after one period in the first start) between Columbus and Pittsburgh this season, but Tristan Jarry is expected to be between the pipes Tuesday night in Pennsylvania. Jarry, 26, is a Vezina candidate: he's 31-12-6 this season, with a .922 save percentage and a goals against average of just 2.28. The Penguins don't have an earth-splitting blue line, but the team's 4th-best goals against average in the NHL is due in large part to Jarry, who has won four consecutive starts and allowed two goals or less in all four.

STORYLINES

• KORPISTAY-O
  Did anyone have Joonas Korpisalo starting for Columbus in this game on their Blue Jackets Bingo Card? Probably not. Korpisalo, subject of trade rumors for literal years at this point, was not dealt at the deadline. There was little-to-no market for goalies, especially goalies who are having career-bad and league-worst years in the goals against and save percentage departments. In both categories, Korpisalo ranks 64th of 64 goalies with more than a dozen starts. An injury to Elvis Merzlikins in the third period of Saturday's win over St. Louis may have given Korpisalo an extra six weeks in Columbus. Any offers for the former All-Star goalie weren't enough to persuade general manager Jarmo Kekalainen to bring another goalie into the fold, something he would have had to do with Merzlikins on the shelf.
   
• SHUT 'EM DOWN?
  The Penguins power play is on an incredible cold streak: they've converted just one time in their last 24 chances, and are 0-14 in their last 14 games. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan: "I think we've just lost a little bit of our mojo. It's not like they're not getting opportunities to score." Columbus will do their best to limit any further opportunities Tuesday but they've had their own difficulties on the penalty kill as of late, allowing eight goals on 22 opposition power plays over the last six games. The Blue Jackets penalty kill is just 25-for-38 over the last dozen games, for a kill rate of 65.7%. Columbus will likely need their PK to be at their best, as the Penguins had ten power play opportunities in the teams' first two meetings of the season, compared to just three for Patrik Laine and company. 

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