Jackes forge late tie, upend Penguins in shootout

Field Level Media|published: Tue 7th January, 22:07 2025

Jan 7, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Drew O'Connor (10) skates with the puck against Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (8) during the first period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko each scored in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied to snap a 15-game winless skid in Pittsburgh with a 4-3 victory over the Penguins on Tuesday night.

Johnson beat Tristan Jarry between the pads in the first round of the shootout and Marchenko did the same in the third to end the game.

Columbus' Dmitri Voronkov scored twice to boost his goal total to nine in his last seven games and Adam Fantilli converted from the slot to forge a 3-3 tie with 2:36 remaining in the third period.

Marchenko had two assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets, who recorded their first win in the Steel City since Nov. 13, 2015. They were 0-10-5 in the previous 15 games. Overall, Columbus improved to 6-2-1 in its last nine games.

Pittsburgh's Rickard Rakell scored twice in the third period to reach the 20-goal plateau for the fifth time in his career.

Michael Bunting scored his career-high eighth power-play goal of the season and captain Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson each notched two assists.

Jarry turned aside 26 shots for the Penguins, who extended their winless streak to four games (0-1-3).

Pittsburgh played without former Hart Trophy recipient Evgeni Malkin, who sat out due to an upper-body injury.

Karlsson's lead pass found Rakell in stride, and the latter wired a shot from the left wing that slipped past Merzlikins to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead early in the third period.

Rakell doubled the advantage at 10:09 of the third period after converting Crosby's centering feed from behind the net.

Voronkov, who redirected Sean Monahan's slap-pass to open the scoring at 3:20 of the first period, tallied with 7:55 remaining in the third.

The Penguins forged a 1-1 tie 51 seconds into the second period.

Crosby got just enough on a one-time slap pass from the right faceoff circle that Bunting converted from the left doorstep. The goal was Bunting's 13th of the season and sixth in his last seven games. He also found the net in Pittsburgh's 6-2 loss to Columbus on Nov. 15.

--Field Level Media

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