If you’re like me, the geo restrictions on the stream from Columbus wasn’t co-operating, but all things considered this wasn’t a bad game to miss out on. Therefore, I don’t have a lot of impressions to make out of the Penguins’ 4-0 loss to the Blue Jackets.
Pittsburgh brought a bare bones roster, saving most of their 100+ game veterans for the exhibition finale on Saturday. Tonight’s top line could make up most/all the fourth line come the regular season, otherwise it was stocked with a lot of players who will be headed off the NHL roster in the coming days, besides goalie Sergei Murashov.
Overall, NHL.com has the shots of this snore-fest at 16-15 for the whole game. That might not be good for a Columbus team that took advantage of their home game and loaded up with many an NHL regular.
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Pittsburgh generated just two shots in the first period and barely got much going after that. Each team only took one penalty a piece the whole game, matching minors for Avery Hayes and a Blue Jacket for roughing.
Even the highlights left something to be desired, like this ice level view where you can’t really tell what happens but a long-range Zach Werenski wrister eluded Murashov with traffic in front for a goal in the first period that would stand up as the eventual game-winner.
Val Nichushkin tallied the second goal, splitting Jake Livanavage and Ilya Solovyov and getting in close to score.
Ryan Graves did a very Ryan Graves thing, falling over and knocking the puck into his net for the third goal.
Columbus would tack on an empty netter late to close out the scoring.
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Murashov ends up with 13 saves on 16 shots, but considering what he had to work with on his team and about all of CBJ’s good players in there, not too much can be gleamed from the evening. He didn’t let in anything outrageous, though fighting through traffic and finding a way to stop the puck on the first goal is going to be a challenge for him – like any NHL goalie.
Some statlines for players on the bubble or in interesting spots:
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Rutger McGroarty: -2, 3 shots on goal (4 total attempts), 1 giveaway and blocked shot
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Tristan Broz: -2, 2 shots on goal 2 hits, 3 giveaways, 1-for-6 in the faceoff circle
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Ville Koivunen: -2, 1 shot on goal (2 total attempts), 2 giveaways and 2 blocked shots
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Avery Hayes: -1, 2 PIMs, 1 shot on goal (4 total attempts), 2 hits
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Murashov was charged with 4 giveaways
Some good news, if there is any, is the line of Filip Hallander, Conor Dewar and Elmer Soderblom were not on for a goal against (neither was the Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke pair). Dewar did only win four of his 11 faceoffs, which could loom large with the team likely needing him to start the regular season as a center after preseason injuries to Blake Lizotte and Ben Kindel.
Overall, not much to work with or analyze, which might be for the best considering the circumstances. The Pens brought a B-level team and got a B-level output of basically nothing. That’s about all we got for this one, Pittsburgh will gladly move onto the next day, where they will practice tomorrow at noon before getting ready for that last tune-up game this weekend.
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