The Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets are playing Game 3 of their NHL playoffs series in the first round in the eastern conference on Monday night and the game starting up at 7 pm ET has things tied at 1-1 after the 2OT victory from CBJ and now Sidney Crosby and company will try to get a win at Nationwide Arena as things pick up on the road for the higher seeded team.
Matt Calvert scored a goal that kept the Blue Jackets going after going down 3-1 and then later on he scored his second career playoff goal and that was the one that won the game for the Jackets after he got on past Marc-Andre Fleury in the second overtime period. The Penguins were up two after the first period and that gave the momentum all to Pitt, but the Blue Jackets never gave up and now they have the chance to take a 2-1 lead at home in Game 3. Making matters even more meaningful, it was the first ever win for the Blue Jackets in the playoffs and now they have the Penguins playing on their backs as they try to get another win.
Jack Johnson scored his first playoff goal as well and while Sidney Crosby had two assists in the game, he did not score for the second straight matchup and now he will need to get his game together as the team tries to get things done. Sergei Bobrovsky ended up with nearly 40 saves in the game and he has been one of the reasons why the team even has a chance, as he was able to stop a shot from Crosby that could have ended things and both sides had chances in the overtime to win it. The NHL playoffs are the best of all the sports because of the way they deal with overtime and that could help give the Jackets a boost as they host the Penguins for Game 3.
The Pens have had issues with overtime games and now they have lost four in a row at home in OT and they had the chance to push their lead even more early, but they couldn't keep the Jackets down and now they also have to overcome being beaten on the power play, as they just went 1 for 8 overall and they were the best team in that category in the NHL during the season. The first two games of the series have been strangely similar, as the Blue Jackets were the team up 3-1 in the first matchup before the Penguins came back to win and the same exact thing happened in Game 2 to the opposite team and now each will try and get the advantage back with a win on Monday night.
Check here for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins live coverage from NBC.