Johnny Gaudreau scored on a breakaway one minute into overtime Thursday to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, who were playing their season finale.
Andrew Peeke and Emil Bemstrom also scored for the Blue Jackets (25-47-9, 59 points), who are 1-3-1 in their past five. They have one remaining game, Friday at home against Buffalo in a makeup game.
Columbus goaltender Michael Hutchinson stopped 34 shots.
Kris Letang had a goal and an assist, Jake Guentzel also scored, and Sidney Crosby added two assists for the Penguins (40-31-11, 91 points), who closed their season on a 2-2-1 stretch. They were eliminated from the playoffs a night earlier when the New York Islanders clinched the Eastern Conference’s final available wild-card berth with a win over Montreal.
This is the first time Pittsburgh has not been in the postseason since 2006. The team’s 16-year streak of appearing in the playoffs — a run that included three Stanley Cup wins — was the longest active string across all major North American pro sport leagues.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 31 saves.
Penguins top-line winger Bryan Rust did not come out for the third period. There was no immediate reason supplied by the team.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead during the only power play of the first period. Letang’s shot from the right point went in off Peeke, who was among a handful of players around the crease, at 4:28.
That gave Letang 40 points, making him the fourth active defenseman in the NHL with 10 40-point seasons.
The Blue Jackets tied it 1-1 with the only goal of the second, at 2:12. Hunter McKown won a faceoff and pulled the puck back to Peeke. His blast from the right point sailed past Jarry’s glove.
Guentzel broke the tie with a power-play goal at 3:53 of the third. Using Peeke as a screen, his shot from the top of the left circle went inside the far post for his team-leading 36th goal.
With 3:25 left in regulation and on a power play, Bemstrom tied it 2-2 on a backdoor play off a feed from Mikael Pyyhtia.
–Field Level Media
