Penguins finish preseason by beating Blue Jackets
The Pittsburgh Penguins won their preseason finale, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets, 7-3, at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
Blue Jackets forward Mikael Pyyhtia (second goal of the preseason, 4:35 of the first period) and defenseman Cole Clayton (first goal, 5:05) opened the scoring.
Penguins forward Noel Acciari responded with his third goal at 6:27 of the opening frame. Only 68 seconds later, forward Rickard Rakell tied the score, collecting his second goal during a power-play sequence.
Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi scored his team-best fourth goal at 5:54 of the second period. Linemate Rutger McGroarty got his first goal 11 seconds after that.
Acciari struck again at 11:36 of the second frame. That was offset by Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson’s second goal at 13:15 of the second.
Penguins forward Lars Eller notched his second goal this preseason at 14:55 of the second period then scored again at 8:15 of the third frame.
Goaltender Joel Blomqvist made 26 saves on 29 shots as his record improved to 2-1-0.
The Penguins completed the preseason with a 4-3-0 record. They are scheduled to open the regular season with a home contest against the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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