Blue Jackets Break Nine-Year Road Losing Streak In Pittsburgh; Lose Sean Monahan To Injury

Dmitri Voronkov(16, 17) and Adam Fantilli(9) supplied the offense for the CBJ, and Elvis Merzļikins made 20 saves in a 4-3 shootout win for the Blue Jackets. Merzļikins also stopped two shootout attempts from Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby. In the shootout for the Jackets, Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko scored the goals.

Forward Dmitri Voronkov continues his red-hot pace by scoring two goals, one of which was on the power play. Adam Fantilli was moved up to the top line for an injured Sean Monahan and would score the tying goal on the power play with 2:36 left in the game and send it to overtime. Erasing third-period deficits is not something Columbus fans are used to seeing, especially on the road.

Merzļikins was able to shut the Pens down on two straight tries to seal the win for the CBJ. This was the Jackets' first win in PPG Paints Arena since November 13, 2015. They had lost 15 straight before winning on Tuesday night. Mathieu Olivier spoke before the game and said this about the losing streak, "Tonight's the night we change it." Olivier was right.

This win will be overshadowed by the loss of Sean Monahan. Per Dean Evason, "He hurt it in the second period, came out and took a shift in the third and then left. We want to get home to get it checked out." The team described the injury as an upper-body injury. After the game, Monahan was seen in the locker room with a brace on his wrist. We're unsure if this is the injury, but we'll find out more later in the week. This would be a massive loss for the Jackets. Monahan has 41 points in 41 games and has points in 6 of his last 7 games.

After 41 games, the Blue Jackets have a record of 18-17-6 with 42 points and sit in the second wild card spot, just two points shy of Tampa Bay for the first wild card.

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Dmitri Voronkov scored his 16th and 17th goals. He now has 7 power-play goals on the season.

• Adam Fantilli scored his 9th goal of the season. He also recorded his 10th assist and has a three-game points streak.

• Sean Monahan tallied his 27th assist on the season.

• Kirill Marchenko got his 27th and 28th assists of the year.

• Zach Werenski recorded his 34th assist.

• Kent Johnson got his 13th assist.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 2 for 2 on the night.

• The Columbus PK gave up a PP goal on the Pens only man advantage of the game.

• The Blue Jackets won 50.9% of the faceoffs.

What's Next - The Jackets are back home on Thursday to welcome in the Seattle Kraken.

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