Penguins complete impressive comeback to secure overtime win in Columbus

Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 28, 2025

Published in Hockey

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dan Muse talked extensively on Friday morning about building on the response he saw in Wednesday’s game.

This should work.

Down two goals entering the third period on Friday in Columbus, the Penguins came all the way back to earn a 4-3 overtime victory against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

Kris Letang ended it with his goal 58 seconds into the extra session, an important change for the Penguins considering how much they’ve struggled in extra time.

The win, their second straight, raises the Penguins record to 12-6-5.

After a sleepy second period that saw the Penguins fall into a two-goal hole, Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby tied it in the third, the second of those a truly impressive effort from the Penguins captain.

Tommy Novak made what looked like an area pass from the red line. Crosby won a footrace with Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov, then went backhand to forehand to beat goaltender Jet Greaves at 8:28.

Friday was the third two-goal game of the season for Crosby, who now has 16 tallies on the year. Crosby is up to 640 career goals, tied with Dave Andreychuk for 15th on the NHL list.

This was a painful one for Rust, who collided with Evgeni Malkin and a goal post in the second period. Typical Rust, he just kept going.

And Rust sparked the Penguins with his goal 13 seconds into the final period, capitalizing on a Blue Jackets turnover and whizzing a shot past Reaves from atop the right circle.

A lousy second period put the Penguins in a sizable hole after 40 minutes.

While their initial power-play opportunity was disjointed and ineffective, their second was even worse — resulting in a short-handed goal for center Brendan Gaunce at 3:51 and a 2-1 Blue Jackets lead.

The sequence featured an ugly pass from Erik Karlsson and that Malkin-Rust crash. At the other end, left wing Miles Wood led a two-on-one and slid a perfect, backhand pass to Gaunce.

The Penguins have allowed three short-handed goals this season. And while their power play has been excellent (31.4%, best in the NHL, prior to Friday), in this one it generated zero momentum.

Just when it looked like the Penguins might escape a lousy second down one, Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski scored from atop the left circle at 19:56.

Letang lost a puck battle with center Charlie Coyle. Nobody marked Werenski, who finished with authority for his fifth goal in the past seven games, giving Columbus a 3-1 lead.

The Penguins withstood a strong Columbus start and grabbed a 1-0 lead on Crosby's first goal, this one coming at 6:10. Letang had the puck after a scrum and slid a pass to Crosby, Crosby angled his stick perfectly for a redirect at the left post.

Columbus answered at 13:40 of the first when defenseman Brendan Smith took a shot, Tristan Jarry allowed a juicy rebound, and nobody covered center Sean Monahan, who easily deposited the loose puck past Jarry.

It was over when …

Letang scored for the 14th time against Columbus, most among any defenseman in NHL history.

Stat of the game

13: Wins for the Penguins (13-0-2) in their past 15 games against Columbus when scoring first.

Around the boards

— Ben Kindel returned to the lineup amid some Penguins line shuffling. Kindel centered the third line, while Connor Dewar dropped from top-line left wing to the right side on the fourth line. Kevin Hayes bumped up from Malkin’s left wing to the same side on Crosby’s line. Novak took Hayes’ spot, and Danton Heinen shifted over to the left side on Kindel’s line.

— This isn’t the same Ville Koivunen as we saw last year. After failing to register a shot attempt the past two games, Koivunen was a little better on Friday. But he still needs to pull the trigger sooner.

— Crosby now has 23 goals in 47 career games against the Blue Jackets. This was his 21st multi-point effort against the Penguins' division rival.

— Crosby and Letang have combined on 310 goals. Among forwards and defensemen, only Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey (350) have teamed up on more.

— Rutger McGroarty should be in Pittsburgh very soon. He scored again for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That’s four goals in as many games played for the young forward.

Up next

The Penguins will host the Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Toronto suffered a 4-2 loss at Washington on Friday, dropping the Maple Leafs to 2-7-0 on the road this season. The Maple Leafs have allowed 87 goals, most in the Eastern Conference.