The Arizona Coyotes look to continue their impressive start to the season as they head into Columbus to battle the underachieving Blue Jackets looking to regain their spot atop the Pacific division. The goal was Saad’s first career tally against his hometown team.
Advertisement
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves and led the Blue Jackets to a 2-1 win over the Penguins Friday at Consol Energy Center.
Hornqvist deflected a shot from the point past Bobrovsky with 52 seconds remaining to spoil the goalie’s shutout bid. Hornqvist appeared to tie it with 13 seconds left but it was waved immediately and the call was upheld on review. “But that’s no goal”.
“We wanted to do a good job of getting on the forecheck, keeping it simple, and frustrate their guys because they can make plays”, Saad of shutting out Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins had won 10 of 12 and were coming off a 4-3 shootout win on Wednesday over the Montreal Canadiens.
Columbus took a 2-0 lead 1:41 later. Blue Jackets defenseman Cody Goloubef blasted a slap shot from the right point. It’s amusing how it works…you lose a big guy who eats up a lot of minutes (Dubinsky) and guys are moved in and out of positions.
“It wasn’t too bad”, Murray said of having to quickly adjust to playing. “I played a lot better than I did the last couple of games. It’s a step forward”.
Saad, a Pine Richland High School alum, assisted the game’s first goal, scored at 11:08 of the middle period by Scott Hartnell, his eighth of the season.
Meanwhile, Columbus isn’t setting the world on fire with John Tortorella, although they are 5-4-0 in the past nine games … and they can still be a thorn in the side of the Penguins.
Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for his fifth victory as the Islanders earned their second win in three games.
Advertisement
“We didn’t get enough pucks to the net”, coach Mike Johnston said. “The more balance we have to our lines, I think the more effective team we are”.
