The Blue Jackets couldn’t generate enough offense Thursday night in Nationwide Arena as Pittsburgh took a 3-1 victory in game seven of eight of the preseason.

Game in a Paragraph

The Blue Jackets got on the board early with a give-and-go goal between Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson, however they could not generate any further offense as the Penguins battled back. Pittsburgh tied the game in the second and scored the only two goals of the third to hand the Blue Jackets a home loss.

Quote of the Game

CBJ head coach Dean Evason: “We were doing a lot of really good things, and then we just kind of stalled out and stuck in the second period. They did a good job of checking, competing, collapsing in front of the net.”

CBJ Standouts

• Sillinger scored his third goal of this preseason, one shy of the team lead.

• Johnson set up the opening goal of the game by drawing three Penguins towards him, which opened up Sillinger for the one-timer.

• Elvis Merzlikins played all 60 minutes, stopping 20 of 22 shots in the loss.

How It Happened

The Blue Jackets got on the board first as Sillinger scored after he stepped out of the box where he was serving a cross-checking penalty. Johnson found him and the two youngsters turned the odd-man rush opportunity into the first and only goal of the opening frame at 7:24.

In the second period, the Penguins got on the board as a play broke down in the Blue Jackets’ defensive zone that resulted in a clear shot in the slot on Merzlikins by forward Valtteri Puustinen to make it 1-1 at 4:52. Columbus was unable to reclaim its lead in the period despite outshooting the Penguins 11-2 in the frame.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead 4:56 into in the third period off a tip-in goal by Jonathan Gruden off an original shot by Joona Koppanen. They were able to hold the Blue Jackets off for the remainder of the period as they claimed their third goal via Kevin Hayes on an empty net in the final minute of play.

Notable

The Blue Jackets outshot the Penguins 34-24. … Johnson earned his team-leading fourth assist of the preseason… Merzlikins had a .913 save percentage in this game and is now posting a .931 mark in the preseason.

Roster Report

Here is the roster the Blue Jackets used for the contest. The Blue Jackets have started cutting down the roster for opening night, as just 26 healthy players were left on the active roster heading into the night. … Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Up Next

Columbus is back on the road Friday to take on the Penguins in Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. for its last preseason game.