Blown leads plague Penguins, Jackets
COLUMBUS, OHIO — In a Stanley Cup playoff series marked by teams giving up two-goal leads, Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Rob Scuderi says it’s time to get selfish.
Asked his team’s approach going into Game 4 on Wednesday night, Scuderi said, “Let’s get greedy.”
The Penguins carry a 2-1 lead in a topsy-turvy first-round, bestof-seven elimination in which a team has led by a score of 3-1 in each game — and still lost.
Pittsburgh did it in Game 2, the Blue Jackets in Games 1 and 3, including a painful 4-3 home loss on Monday night.
“I’ll tell you, I’d take a 3-1 lead in the next game for sure,” Columbus defenceman Jack Johnson said, with a chuckle.
As was the case in the Penguins’ come-from-behind, 4-3 win on Monday night — each game so far has ended with a 4-3 score — a loud capacity crowd of more than 19,000 is expected at Nationwide Arena.
Here’s two things to keep an eye on: Dancing without the stars Penguins superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — not to mention prominent contributors Chris Kunitz, James Neal and Kris Letang — have yet to score a goal in the first three games. Crosby hasn’t scored a goal in his last seven playoff games, Malkin in his last six.
Coach Dan Bylsma said crashing the net and pursuing rebounds are the best way to get out of a goal drought.
“I don’t think we can expect it to be an easy goal,” he said. Duty does it: One of the reasons Crosby has been limited to four assists is hard-nosed Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky. He’s been stellar in not only helping to put the clamps on Crosby, who had an NHL-best 104 points during the regular season, but also adding four assists of his own.
There’s no question he has been the emotional leader for the upstart Blue Jackets, making their first playoff appearance in five years.