The home portion of the Columbus Blue Jackets' exhibition season came to a close Thursday night, in the form of a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the defeat:
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| Penguins: 3, Blue Jackets: 1 |
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Cole Sillinger continues to have a sensational preseason, scoring his third goal in four exhibition games. Kent Johnson and Ivan Provorov had the assists, with Provorov finding Sillinger coming out of the penalty box at the right time. Sillinger got it to Johnson, who was streaking up the middle of the ice and drew the attention of three Penguins before getting it back to Sillinger for a clean look at the Pittsburgh net. This was good puck movement all around:
More like GOAL Sillinger! @FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/HGaqnVksi4
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 3, 2024 -
Zach Werenski and Provorov were on the top defensive pairing together, a first in the preseason. Nothing stood out exceptionally either way, but the experiment with Provorov on the right side and on the top line could, amongst other things, mean that head coach Dean Evason is looking at some late-preseason tweaks to the pairings.
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On the same day the team announced that forward Gavin Brindley would miss 4-6 weeks with a broken finger, Dmitri Voronkov left on his first shift of the night with an injury and did not return. The team is calling it an upper body injury.
- Elvis Merzlikins made 20 saves on 22 shots in what was his first full game of the 2024-25 campaign. Daniil Tarasov seems likely to get the start Friday night in Pittsburgh as the two teams complete a home-and-home to end the preseason.
