COLUMBUS, Ohio — Though the Penguins have resembled a solid squad most of the season when facing Columbus, they finally reverted to their mediocre ways against the Blue Jackets.

Rather than finish off a season sweep, the Penguins fell to last-place Columbus for the first time this season in four meetings, this time with a 4-3 shootout loss Saturday night at Nationwide Arena. Damon Severson netted the winner in the fifth round of the shootout, but it was blowing a 3-1 lead with 11 minutes to play that foiled the Penguins.

“We gave them too much momentum,” Marcus Pettersson said. “I feel like we just squirted it out of our end, and they changed and they came in waves at us. It was tough to respond out there."

Rickard Rakell slipped a nifty backhand through Elvis Merzlikins’ five-hole midway through the third, yet Columbus responded just nine seconds later. Kirill Marchenko turned Kris Letang around and sent the blue-liner to the ice before going top shelf on Alex Nedeljkovic to cut the Penguins’ advantage to 3-2.

A miscue by Letang led to Columbus’ first goal, which commenced the evening’s scoring. Letang whiffed on a first-period power play when trying to pass to Bryan Rust, gifting the Blue Jackets a 2-on-1 that Mathieu Olivier finished off. Letang’s minus-5 rating in March is the lowest of any month this season.

"I don't think he's done his best, obviously,” coach Mike Sullivan said of Letang. “He's an important player for us. And he just plays in so many critical minutes. So, obviously, when he's at his best he's a pretty impactful player."

The goal was a bit controversial, though, since Columbus’ Cole Sillinger collided with Nedeljkovic on the rush. Sullivan unsuccessfully challenged the goal for goalie interference, and was miffed about the result postgame.

"If anybody can figure out goalie interference,” Sullivan said. “We're all ears."

Nedeljkovic weathered a frantic first from Columbus in which the Blue Jackets generated four high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. The Penguins finally got on the board when Rust threaded a seam pass to Drew O’Connor, who ripped a one-timer from the right face-off circle for his career-best 13th goal to draw the Penguins back even.

Rust then scored for the third time in four games via a textbook Sidney Crosby feed after a face-off with just over a minute to go in the frame. Sullivan deployed an unorthodox five-man unit, with Letang, Erik Karlsson and Evgeni Malkin joining Rust and Crosby.

Rakell’s third period tally seemingly had the Penguins well on their way to victory. But then, they got sloppy. Five of Columbus’ 10 turnover scoring chances came in the third, per Sportlogiq.

After Marchenko’s goal trimmed the deficit to one, Zach Werenski finished off the comeback by deking Jack St. Ivany out of his skates and then burying a shot behind Nedeljkovic.

“We have a two-goal lead in the third period and just got to find a way to get two points,” Nedeljkovic said. “Two shots beat me in a short amount of time there, and then I didn't really think I did enough in the shootout.”

Nedeljkovic stonewalled three of Columbus’ five shootout attempts, allowing Severson and Alexandre Texier to both wiggle pucks through him. The Penguins could have earned a clean two points by defending harder in regulation, or at the very least winning outright in overtime.

Instead, the Penguins fell to 5-11 on the season when required to play bonus hockey.

“We haven't done a good enough job in overtime, I think, the whole year,” Crosby said. “But obviously, it's a big point tonight.”

With nine games remaining in their season, the Penguins trail the Philadelphia Flyers by seven points for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. The Penguins’ minute chances of playing beyond the regular season would have benefitted greatly from earning two points against the lowly blue Jackets.

Though they are up to having a 4.2% chance of qualifying for the playoffs according to Money Puck, the Penguins’ failure to stave off a late surge from one of the league’s worst teams further validated why they’re not a serious contender at this juncture.

"We got to do a better job of staying aggressive, but playing smart at the same time,” Pettersson said. “I think too many times this year when we gave up leads, we're kind of giving momentum away and just allow them to play with the puck.

ICE CHIPS

• Michael Bunting left the game early because he was sick, per Sullivan. Bunting’s last shift came with 18:58 remaining in the third period

• Crosby’s streak of games with multiple points ended at three. By assisting on Rust’s goal, though, Crosby is now just three points away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the most point-per-game seasons in NHL history.

• O’Connor has now scored in three straight games twice this season. The winger thrice tickled twine in consecutive contests in February as well in addition to his current run.

• Ryan Graves missed the game due a concussion he sustained during Thursday night’s game. John Ludvig, a scratch the Penguins’ past two games, skated in Graves’ place and partnered with St. Ivany.

• Emil Bemstrom and Ryan Shea joined Graves as the Penguins’ scratches

• Nedeljkovic made his season-high fourth straight start. Tristan Jarry’s last start was March 22, when he was pulled early for Nedeljkovic in a loss to the Dallas Stars.

• Alex Nylander returned to the lineup for Columbus after sitting out Thursday’s game due to illness. He’s tallied eight goals and three assists in 16 games for the Blue Jackets since the Penguins traded Nylander for Bemstrom.

• Jeff Rimer, a long-time Blue Jackets and NHL broadcaster, was honored prior to the game in advance of his retirement. Rimer, 72, will call it quits on a six-decade career, including 41 years as the play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Blue Jackets, after the 2023-24 campaign.

• Rust’s 24 goals are second-most on the team, trailing only Crosby’s 35. Even with three different injuries forcing him to miss 20 games, Rust is three goals shy of tying his career-best set from the 2019-20 season.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill was a perfect 4 for 4

STAT N’AT

11 –Short-handed goals the Penguins have yielded this season, tied with the Montreal Canadiens for most in the league.

THEY SAID IT

"The blue paint is the goalie's domain,” Sullivan said. “And so, we felt like when a player goes into the blue paint on his own volition without getting pushed there, then there's a possible goalie interference.”

COMING UP

The Penguins have a scheduled off day Sunday prior to a stretch of three road games in four days against Metro Division foes. Atop the docket is a matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and @AndrewDestin1 on X

First Published: March 31, 2024, 2:12 a.m.
Updated: March 31, 2024, 1:53 p.m.