Kent Johnson scored the only goal of the shootout in the opening round to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at Nationwide Arena.
Damon Severson put Columbus on the board first, scoring his first goal of the season on a snap shot at 10:52 of the opening period with assists from Zach Werenski and Cole Sillinger. Mathieu Olivier widened the advantage to 2-0 at 11:40 of the second period on a snap shot set up by Severson and Sillinger.
Pittsburgh answered back at 14:30 of the second period when Bryan Rust beat Cam Talbot with an even-strength snap shot off a feed from Samuel Girard. Evgeni Malkin pulled the Penguins even at 3:19 of the third period, deflecting in a pass from Erik Karlsson to send the contest into overtime.
Talbot stopped 20 of 22 shots during the game and denied all three Pittsburgh shootout shooters, turning aside Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel. At the other end, Sergei Murashov stopped 45 of 47 shots for the Penguins before Johnson beat him in the skills competition. Neither team broke through on special teams, as Columbus went 0 for 4 on the power play and Pittsburgh ended 0 for 2.
The victory improved Columbus to 2-1-0 on the regular season. Pittsburgh slipped to 2-2-1 and is now winless in three straight contests.
Pittsburgh travels to face the Utah Mammoth on Monday, October 19. Columbus will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, October 20.
