Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Predictions, Picks and Preview – 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference First Round Game Two – April 14, 2017
The Columbus Blue Jackets showed a bit of their inexperience as they went down 3-0 in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Jackets let in all three goals in the second period, including two within the first four minutes, and never quite recovered.
After a sloppy end to the season, Columbus is now just 1-7 in its last eight games, and 1-6 in its last seven road games.
Vezina Trophy favorite Sergei Bobrovsky didn’t have the best game, as he gave up three goals in 29 shots. That .897 save percentage is pretty consistent with what Bob has shown throughout his playoff career. He had a mediocre .890 save percentage in 13 postseason games heading into this year’s playoffs.
Obviously, the Jackets need Bob to get back to his best to stand any chance against the Pens. But with Pittsburgh’s prolific offense bound to get goals even if Bob does play well, Columbus needs to capitalize on its opportunities against Pittsburgh’s 20th-ranked penalty kill. The Jackets went 0-of-2 on the power play in Game 1. They are now just 1-of-26 with the man advantage in their last 14 games.
The Penguins were thrown a monkey wrench even before their Stanley Cup title defense got started as Matt Murray was injured in warm-ups and was a late scratch for Game 1. But the champs had quite the backup goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury, who performed admirably by stopping 31 of 32 Blue Jackets shots to help the Pens to the Game 1 win.
Of course, Fleury also had the help of the best offense in the game. Evgeni Malkin made quite he return to the lineup after missing the last month of the season by assisting on the Pens’ first two goals. Phil Kessel also had a multi-point game with a goal and an assist.
It remains to be seen what Murray’s status for Game 2 will be, but the Pens should be in good hands with Fleury, who improved to 54-45 in his postseason career.
Meanwhile, the offense got the better of the Vezina favorite Bobrovsky despite Sidney Crosby having just one shot on goal and finishing with a minus-1 in Game 1. You’d figure the reigning Conn Smythe will have a significantly bigger influence in Game 2.
Writer’s Prediction
The Penguins put the Blue Jackets in a 2-0 hole with a 4-2 Game 2 win.
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