Pittsburgh Penguins Down Columbus Blue Jackets In Preseason Action

The Pittsburgh Penguins scored twice in the first period on Saturday afternoon, and held off the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2-1 exhibition victory at Consol Energy Center.

It was 2014 first-round draft pick Kasperi Kapanen and center Andrew Ebbett who contributed the goals in the opening frame.

Kapanen scored a power play goal at 5:52 into the game by roofing a cross-ice pass from Marcel Goc under the crossbar past Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. The puck deflected out immediately, so after a brief conference, the on-ice officials confirmed the score.

The second goal came at the 11:44 mark of the first when Christian Ehrhoff led the rush into Columbus zone up the left wing and backhanded pass throught the crease. Ebbert was able to get a stick on the puck and banked it off the near post and then Bobrovsky’s leg and into the net.

Former Penguin Brian Gibbons took a pass from center Alexander Wennberg and fired a wrist shot from the left circle past Fleury to claim a power play goal at 2:08 of the third and made it 2-1 on the scoreboard.

Marc-Andre Fleury played all three periods between the pipes and turned away 19 shots. Bobrovsky finished the contest with 29 saves for the Blue Jackets.

Chris Kunitz made his preseason debut after being sidelined for three games due to an undisclosed injury.

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Pittsburgh out shot Columbus 31-19 and won the face off battle 27-22 while the Blue Jackets led in blocked shots 21-13 and penalty minutes 15-11.

The Penguins (2-2) hit the road for their fifth preseason game as they head to the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota to take on the Wild on Monday, Sept 29 at 8 p.m. The contest will be broadcast by ROOT Sports Pittsburgh

From The Clipboard: Sidney Crosby had been slated to make his preseason debut on Saturday, but instead traveled to Nova Scotia to be with his family after his grandmother’s death. The team expects Crosby to be back for the Pens game Monday at Minnesota.

Pittsburgh head coach Mike Johnston said on Saturday that Beau Bennett will be out six weeks after the 6-foot-2, 195-pound right wing sustained a lower body injury in practice on Friday. The Pens’ 2010 first-round draft pick will not require surgery on any other procedure on what is believed to be his left knee.

The Black and Gold also announced that they assigned forwards Jayson Megna and Dominik Uher and defenseman Reid McNeill to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Penguins’ training camp roster now stands at 34 players with a breakdown of 19 forwards, 12 defensemen and three goaltenders. The roster must be at 23 before the NHL season opens on Thursday, Oct. 9.