Columbus Blue Jackets hockey drops 3rd period lead, falls to Penguins

The Blue Jackets are stuck in a maddening rut of blowing leads in third periods, but they keep giving themselves opportunities to change the narrative.

Maybe one of these days, it’ll flip around. Unless that happens, though, lost wins and points keep piling up, including the latest gut punch 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 29 at Nationwide Arena after starting the third with a 3-1 lead.

Bryan Rust cut it to 3-2 for the Penguins (12-6-5) just 13 seconds into the third, Sidney Crosby tied it 3-3 at 8:28 and defenseman Kris Letang won it 59 seconds into overtime to hand the Blue Jackets (11-9-5) their fourth straight loss.

Sean Monahan, Brendan Gaunce and Zach Werenski scored goals for the Blue Jackets, including Werenski’s with four seconds left in the second period for a 3-1 lead that vanished in the third. Jet Greaves (25 saves) started in net for Columbus, which is now last in the Metropolitan Division.

This was the eighth time in the Blue Jackets’ first 25 games they’ve blown a lead in the third, the fourth time it was a two-goal margin and the second two-goal lead they’ve coughed up against the Penguins — the first ending in a shootout win for Columbus on Oct. 25 in Pittsburgh.

Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at [email protected] and @BrianHedger.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets fall in overtime to Pittsburgh Penguins