01-21-2020, 02:19 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled at times in an injury-filled season. Geronimo Allison Super Bowl Jersey . When a game is in the balance, however, they still have the personnel and the experience to end up with the two points. Chris Kunitz and Beau Bennett scored goals 47 seconds apart midway through the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves and the Penguins clinched a playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. "I thought to a man we stepped up," coach Dan Bylsma said after his team ended a string of three regulation defeats. "Were fighting for every inch we can get right now. Tonight, this was exactly what weve talked about and wanted from this game. It was a playoff-type game, with playoff-type intensity." The Penguins are now at 99 points to move closer to clinching the Metropolitan Division title. But it was far from easy, particularly without star forward Evgeni Malkin (foot) and other injured mainstays such as Paul Martin, Pascal Dupuis and Kris Letang. Bennett hadnt played in the past 50 games after surgery on his wrist. Yet he came up with the game-winning goal. "Skating on my own, its a lot of skill stuff," he said of the hours spent rehabbing the injury and trying to get back into game shape. "Its something thats grown my game even with being out. I felt pretty good out there." Fleury was at his best early -- and late. He made a terrific save on the first shift on Cam Atkinsons shot off a deflection. Then he made huge saves on Brandon Dubinsky and Atkinson during a scrum in front of the net in the final seconds. "He was outstanding all game," Bylsma said. After a chippy game with lots of hard checks and few great scoring chances, the Penguins finally broke a scoreless battle at 10:35. Sidney Crosby carried the puck through the neutral zone and slid a pass to Kunitz whose wrister from the top of the left circle avoided the outstretched stick of defenceman James Wisniewski to beat backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, who had stopped the first 28 shots he faced. It was Kunitzs 34th goal. Before that goal could be announced to a capacity crowd of 18,908, Bennett skated with the puck up the right wing on an odd-man rush. He tucked a hard wrist shot inside the far post for his second of the season at 11:22. "That first one, it shot through our defenceman and unfortunately I picked it up late," said McElhinney, who took over in place of the flu-ridden Sergei Bobrovsky. "The second one they capitalized on a 2-on-1. Its a simple game; sometimes its just a matter of getting the right bounces." McElhinney had 29 saves as Columbus dropped to 0-5 against the Penguins this season. "In four of those five games, its been good hockey," said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. "It just came down to one or two plays -- and they were the team that made the plays." Wisniewski scored a power-play goal for Columbus with 3:06 left to cut the lead to 2-1. Pittsburgh hung on as Fleury stood tall in the last 10 seconds to turn away the potential tying goal. "I took a shot and we kept banging," said Dubinsky. "They collapsed on the net pretty hard and the puck squirted off to the side." The Blue Jackets came into the game in a four-way tie for a wild-card spot in the East. Despite the loss, the Blue Jackets still hold the first wild-card spot in the East. They own the tiebreaker against the other three teams with 80 points (Detroit, Washington, Toronto) due to wins in regulation. "We have to understand the urgency and desperation we have to come out with tomorrow (at Carolina)," Wisniewski said. Notes: The Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday that the Blue Jackets are 29th in the 30-team NHL in attendance, drawing 14,347 per game. Despite a 23 per cent increase in season-ticket sales to 8,600, attendance has actually dropped from last season (14,564). ... After a sunny, warm day in Columbus, a weatherman appearing on the monitors during the second intermission was loudly booed for predicting snow on Saturday. Packers Super Bowl Jerseys . Joining him in this years class were Switzerlands Patrick Huerlimann and Norways Eigil Ramsfjell. The announcement was made at the world mens curling championship at Capital Indoor Stadium in China. Elgton Jenkins Super Bowl Jersey .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. https://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packe...ke-Jersey/ . PETERSBURG, Fla.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In a story Dec. 20 about the game between the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes, Kings defenceman Alec Martinez was credited for a power play goal in the third period. The team announced an official scoring change Monday, crediting the goal to Jeff Carter and giving him two for the game.A corrected version of the story is below:Kings score twice on PP to beat Coyotes 4-2Kings get power-play goals from Gaborik, Carter in 4-2 win over CoyotesBy JOE RESNICKAssociated PressOn the third anniversary of his hiring as coach of the Los Angeles Kings, Darryl Sutters squad delivered a solid two-way performance complete with superb special-teams play at both ends of the rink.Jeff Carter scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period during a power play, his second of the game, and the defending Stanley Cup champions beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Saturday.Since Sutters arrival, the Kings have won two Cups and appear poised to challenge for a third — after going the first 45 years of their existence with only one trip to the finals.It was huge when he came here, because we started playing a more upbeat-tempo game, centre Anze Kopitar said. Hes a really good motivator. We always had a lot of talent and potential here, but he brings out the best in us and he knows how to push our buttons. Thats for sure. And for the most part, hes pushing the right ones.Marian Gaborik also connected with the man advantage for his sixth goal in four games. Trevor Lewis had a goal and Jonathan Quick made 15 saves for the Kings. Kopitar, who set a career high for points with a goal and four assists Thursday night in a 6-4 win over St. Louis, had three assists against the Coyotes.Los Angeles defenceman Robyn Regehr was scratched because of an upper-body injury that occurred during the victory over St. Louis. As a result, Jamie McBain was back in the lineup for the first time since Nov. 29 after nine games as a healthy scratch and got assists on both power-play goals.Martin Hanzal and Kyle Chipchura scored for Arizona, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 31 shots.Carters 10th goal of the season came at 1:34 of the third, just 10 seconds after Hanzal got a penalty for closing his hand on the puck.Gaborik tied it 2-all at 17:40 of the second, capitalizing on a power play while Coyottes captain Shane Doan was off for interference. JK Scott Super Bowl Jersey. We just didnt play hard enough and took some stupid penalties, especially in the offensive zone. It was unacceptable, Hanzal said. Obviously, when youre playing a team like that with a 2-1 lead and you give opportunities on the power play, at some point theyre going to make you pay.The Coyotes, who have only one regulation victory in their last 14 games, tied it at 1 just 44 seconds after the first intermission as Hanzal outraced defenceman Jake Muzzin to a loose puck deep in the Kings zone and flipped his sixth goal over Quicks shoulder.Chipchura put Arizona ahead at 5:42 of the second on a double deflection, sending a shot toward the net that caromed in off Kings teammates Mike Richards and Brayden McNabb after Chipchura worked the puck away from Matt Greene.We came out pretty good, dictating the tempo. It could just as easily have gone south in a hurry after those two goals, but we stuck together and got it done on the power play, Kopitar said. I thought our penalty-killing was pretty solid, too, and that will win you games.Los Angeles went on the power play 15 seconds after the opening faceoff when Hanzal was sent off for holding Kopitar. Less than a minute later, Antoine Vermette sent David Moss on a breakaway and Quick made the save.Quickies been doing that for I dont know how many years now, Lewis said. He makes those big saves for us, and it really gets the bench up and gets us going, so we want to battle hard for him. We came back and scored some big goals.Moments after his short backhander hit the left post behind Quick on a rebound, Coyotes defenceman Keith Yandles attempted clearing pass at the other end of the rink was blocked by Kopitar, and Carter beat Dubnyk at 17:22 of the first to open the scoring.NOTES: Hanzals goal was his first in 11 games since his hat trick Nov. 14 at Vancouver. ... Richards hasnt scored a goal in his last 22 regular-season home games since March 22. ... Arizonas Dave Tippett became the 30th man to coach at least 900 regular-season games in the NHL. He spent three seasons as a Kings assistant under Andy Murray before getting the Dallas Stars job in 2002-03. ... The Coyotes have allowed 11 goals in 31 short-handed situations over their last nine games ' ' '