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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The series of home and away matches between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets that ended Saturday night was rich in emotion and energy.
There was the big debate about the goalkeepers of the Blue Jackets.
Columbus coach John Tortorella has all admitted that Sergei Bobrovsky had a problem with the Penguins when he started replacing his teammate Joonas Korpisalo in the 3-0 defeat of the Blue Jackets on Wednesday night. He then returned to Bobrovsky's home, which dispelled the doubts with a record of 28 saves in a 4-1 win on Saturday night, which ended a five-game losing streak against the Penguins.
There was also the story of triumph and tragedy written by Penguins winger Phil Kessel.
During the game on Thursday, he suffered a drought of 16 goals, which pleased the public PPG Paints Arena. He fell on his head, giving Columbus's Cam Atkinson a penalty-kill goal in Saturday's game.
In the end, however, that meant practically nothing.
When the Penguins woke up Thursday morning, they were tied with Montreal for the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference playoffs with 79 points and 16 games to play. Columbus was two points behind.
When the Penguins woke up Sunday morning, they were tied with Montreal for the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference playoffs with 81 points and 14 games to play. Columbus was two points behind.
In the mathematical sense of the term, the split favors the Penguins. They have their heads and Columbus has two less chances to catch up.
In fact, neither team has won or lost so much.
"I'm not going to be too excited here," Tortorella said. "It's a big win for us. If you enter these two games and you separate from Pitt, I suppose you leave happy. I'm sure Sully says the same thing with his room. "
Both teams may indicate both positive and negative aspects of the series.
For the Penguins, the biggest plus point is the game of goalkeeper Matt Murray, who made a shutout of 25 stops Thursday and made a few spectacular saves on Saturday. He is 18-6-2 with a .930 save percentage since returning from injury in December.
The main disadvantage of the Penguins lies in the way they continue to suffer gaffes that change the rules of the game, especially on the power play, like Kessel's, Saturday night.
For the Blue Jackets, the main drawback is the lack of finishing touches and shocking chemistry following several high-profile additions to the trade deadlines. They were banned on Thursday and should probably have sent the Penguins back much earlier than Saturday.
The biggest plus point is probably a long-sought win against the Penguins, who had won the last eight meetings, even though Tortorella does not think so.
"It's a mental barrier for you guys," Tortorella told reporters. "You talk about it all the time. I'm not being smart. I do not think players really think about it.
"It's really a good match that these two teams play in one or the other building. I also do not think that this team is there, probably, in terms of the number of victories it has won against us, no matter what it is. I think that when the puck is dropped, two competitive teams develop this equipment and play good matches against each other. "
Positive and negative, triumphs and tragedies aside, both teams face a difficult road to try to qualify for the playoffs.
Columbus has faced the New York Islanders, the Carolina Hurricanes and the two Boston Bruins on two occasions before embarking on a three-game trip to Western Canada.
The Penguins will face the Bruins on Sunday and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
Both teams must hope that the round-robin series will leave them more hardened.
"We are trying to control what we can," said coach Mike Sullivan. "As I told the guys after the match, we did not get the result. We must leave it behind and be ready for the next. This is the mentality we must have. We are already in playoff mode and that's how it will be. "
Jonathan Bombulie is an editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Jonathan by email at [email protected] or via Twitter. .
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