Blue Jackets fall to Penguins 5-2, eliminated from postseason

The 2016-17 season ended for the Blue Jackets Thursday night in Pittsburgh as they fell to the Penguins 5-2. The Eastern Conference quarterfinals ended with a tally of 4-1 in favor of the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Playing without captain Nick Foligno who suffered a lower body injury, the Jackets got out to a fast start for the fifth straight game. But it was the Penguins who started the scoring when a Sam Gagner holding penalty gave the home team a power play chance. Phil Kessel wired a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky from atop the left circle to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead that they would take into the first intermission.

The Penguins were aggressive in the middle frame and built a 3-0 lead off two Bryan Rust scores, but the Jackets fought to regain control of the momentum and they succeeded. Halfway through the second period, the Jackets potted their first goal of the night.

Sam Gagner corralled the puck along the half-boards and passed to William Karlsson who carried the puck to the front of the net and his backhand shot got past Marc-Andre Fleury. It was Karlsson’s second goal and third point (2-1-3) in the last two games.

Just under two minutes later, Oliver Bjorkstrand drew a holding call from Trevor Daley. 1:01 into the resulting power play, the puck flew to Seth Jones in the slot. His shot generated a high rebound that Boone Jenner swatted out of the air to narrow the Penguins’ lead to 3-2.

The Jackets thought they tied it up in 3:52 into the third when Bjorkstrand fired the puck over a sprawling Fleury. But the reason the goaltender was down, a knock from Alexander Wennberg, negated the goal and delivered a penalty to the Jackets instead.

This time it was the Penguins who grabbed ahold of opportunity. They scored on the resulting power play and again 51 seconds later to establish a 5-2 lead that would stand for the remainder of the game.

The Jackets took 51 shots on goal, with Fleury stopping 49. Sergei Bobrovsky turned away 27 of the 32 shots he faced.

Click here to read more of this story.