The Blue Jackets had two goals in mind when they took the ice at Nationwide Arena on Saturday night. They wanted to aggressively end the doldrums of a winless road trip and aggressively end their recent woes against the Pittsburgh Penguins .
Starting the third period, the Blue Jackets faced a familiar narrative: a Mathieu Olivier first-period goal erased by three Penguins scores. They were down 2-1 and then trailed 3-1 almost halfway through the third despite advantages in attempts and shots.
That's usually the beginning of a frustrating end for the Blue Jackets, but not on the night that beloved television play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Rimer was feted for his long career behind a microphone.
Nine seconds after Rickard Rakell gave the Penguins the 3-1 lead, Kirill Marchenko brought the Blue Jackets back to within one on his 19th goal of the season. Two minutes later, Zach Werenski tied it 3-3, which eventually forced overtime and then a shootout the Blue Jackets won in a 4-3 victory that was their first win since March 16.
Damon Severson 's goal to start the fifth round of the shootout with a forehand-backhand deke roasted Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to break a 1-1 tie in the breakaways before Elvis Merzlikins stopped Evgeni Malkin 's wrister for the win.
"We had a tough losing streak here," Merzlikins said. "It was amazing to come back home and see our building full. Especially with the amazing fans we have. It was loud. It was amazing to play at home again. And obviously to break that losing streak, it was really important for all of us."
The Blue Jackets had not beaten the Penguins since April 23 of last season.
"It's always fun when you can beat them, especially in our own building," Werenski said. "When you get a win in the NHL, it's fun. Maybe a little bit better when you beat Pittsburgh."
Merzlikins knows the Blue Jackets don't playoffs to push toward, but that didn't take the shine off finally downing the Penguins. A victory over Pittsburgh, he said, was a good response to an ugly six-game winless skid that included an 0-4-1 record on a five-game trip.
"While we had a horrible road trip," Merzlikins said. "I don't know what happened. It's not like we're not trying. We are seriously trying every day. We're practicing hard. We did not give up. We decided together we're going to go until the last game and we're going to try to get as (many) more wins as possible. I think this one was important. This was really important to our feeling."
While Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said Saturday's win was big for the coaching staff and his players, he said it was big for fans, too, "to give them something to cheer for" as the season nears its conclusion.
"We're going to keep doing what we have been doing all year, is promoting winning habits," Vincent said. "It's about effort, managing the puck, tracking. It's all of those small details that we have been building all year. Now the quality of our opponents is pretty intense for the rest of the season. But as far as we are concerned, it's creating winning habits."
Prior to Saturday's game, the Blue Jackets honored TV play-by-play announcer Jeff Rimer with a pregame ceremony. Rimer announced early this season that this will be his last in the broadcast booth.
"In my opinion, there is something very special about the sports fans here in the Midwest and especially here in Columbus," Rimer said in the ceremony. "To the 5th Line, your loyalty and support is second to none in all the National Hockey League."
Rimer's career spans six decades, including the 1976 Summer Olympics, stints with the Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles hosting pregame and postgame shows before shifting into NHL play-by-play work for the Washington Capitals , Florida Panthers and Blue Jackets — with whom he's spent the past 20 years.
"This man had an impact on a lot of lives ... on our team, as well," Vincent said. "The guys love him in the room. He's not only been a good professional, well since I've been here, but ... he's an even better man. So, today, we're lucky to be living that day with him and honor a man that's well-deserving."
The Blue Jackets added another player to their injury/illness list shortly before game time, and this time it was the captain.
Boone Jenner, the team's lone 20-goal scorer, was scratched with an illness, which forced the Blue Jackets to improvise again on their first forward line despite getting Alex Nylander back from a two-game absence with an upper-body injury. Jenner's subtraction from the game happened two hours before the game, forcing the Jackets to call up Cleveland Monsters forward Cameron Butler for his NHL debut with an emergency recall.
Dmitri Voronkov switched from right wing on the top line to fill Jenner's spot in the middle, while Nylander slotted back into the lineup at right wing with that group ― which features Johnny Gaudreau on the left. Voronkov struggled mightily on faceoffs, and his stretch of games without a goal or assist extended to 11 straight games. He was solid anchoring that line, though, while having to face Sidney Crosby 's group.
The Jackets' top line and second group ― Alexandre Texier , Cole Sillinger and Marchenko — soaked up a ton of ice time and played well in response to it. Each line produced a goal to go with Olivier's short-handed goal in the first period.
Butler's NHL debut was by no means traditional.
He was called up two hours before the game. Butler called his commute from Cleveland to Columbus "a pretty quick drive," during which he called his parents to relay the news and listened to music while trying to enjoy the moment.
"I don't remember any of it," Butler said. "It went by pretty quickly."
Vincent was honest with Butler after his arrival 10 minutes before the game.
"Very last-minute there," Vincent said. "No warmup. It was an exciting moment for him. I told him, 'Listen, I don't even know if you're going to play. But just in case…' I had no plan for him. It was depending on how the game went. But he had one shift. He was excited after the game. It was a nice experience for him."
Butler said that shift was enough to take in the magnitude of the moment.
"Definitely not the way I imagined it," he said, "but I'm happy it happened. Couldn't have happened in a better way."
Nearly nine weeks after being cut by a skate blade against the Seattle Kraken , Adam Fantilli is still not ready to return, Vincent confirmed Saturday morning.
"He's still working on recovery," Vincent said. "A bit slower than expected. I was really hoping to see him back before the end of the season. We don't know yet. I still hope, but it's a little bit slower than expected."
Fantilli's calf laceration was initially expected to sideline him for eight weeks. The third overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, Fantilli has 12 goals and 15 assists in 49 games.
Justin Danforth (concussion) and Sean Kuraly (lower body injury) each took the ice for the Blue Jackets in Saturday's morning skate wearing non-contact jerseys. They're each day-to-day but Vincent said Danforth is head of Kuraly.
Right wing Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury) is still week-to-week.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets end winless streak with shootout win vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
