The Blue Jackets came into Pittsburgh looking to leapfrog the flightless birds in the standings, and potentially enter the playoff picture at the halfway point of the season. Doing so would net Columbus their first win in the Steel City since November 2015.
First Period
The Jackets got the jump on the Penguins early in the period, earning five of the game’s first six shots on net. Pittsburgh got away with a slewfoot on Elvis Merzlikins early in the frame, before Erik Karlsson was nabbed for interference 2:53 into the game. On the powerplay, Dmitry Voronkov kept the puck in the zone before streaking to the netfront.