It was a brutal loss for the Blue Jackets, who scored 11 seconds into the game and took a 3-1 lead on Werenski's first career playoff goal later in the period.
Cam Atkinson had two goals for Columbus, and Zach Werenski and Brandon Dubinsky also scored.
With the Penguins in control of the puck in the offensive zone, officials did not blow the whistle, which according to the rule book is at their discretion. The goal in OT helped clinch game 3 and a 3-0 lead in the series.
Werenski, being the tough hockey player that he is, returned to the game in the third period with a full visor to protect the nasty gash beneath his swollen right eye and his plugged right nostril. He tweeted a photo of himself following the game.
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The Blue Jackets, who are in the playoffs for just the third time in their 17-year history, trail 3-0 in the series. The Penguins faced a resurgent attack from the Blue Jackets in their first road game of the postseason, but Fleury relied on his offense to bail him out of his third best performance of the playoffs. After a quiet night in Game 1 of the series that line of Crosby, Guentzel and Conor Sheary has really started to take off the past two games with that trio combining for five goals in those games.
Atkinson got his second goal at 5:02 of the first when he picked Sidney Crosby's pocket at the right circle and beat Fleury with a backhand. The Blues, outshot 117-79 and 1-for-9 on the power play, have not trailed and own a 3-0 series lead nearly exclusively because of Allen's efforts. Rust then tied the score at 13:25 when he took a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin just to the left of the crease and the puck squirted under Bobrovsky's pads after it appeared he had made a stop. "We got some unfortunate bounces there a couple times".
"We've played three pretty good hockey games and we've just to keep playing hard", Dubnyk said. He scored with 2:27 left in the third period of Game 2 to give St. Louis a 2-1 win. A shame indeed should this series end Tuesday in OH or Thursday in Pittsburgh, because I will miss an entire arena standing on their feet, singing, cheering and making hockey a better game.
Jake Allen, who stopped 74 of 76 Wild shots in the first two games on the road, made 40 saves, including 19 in the third period, as the Blues once again stymied the high-scoring Minnesota offense that finished second in the National Hockey League in the regular season with 266 goals.
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