The night started off well, with Ryan Shea scoring his first of the season – and second of his career – just 59 seconds into play.

He was originally drafted by Dallas, but wasn’t able to break into the NHL with their organization. The 28-year-old defenseman has done so with the Penguins, playing in over 30 games each of his first two seasons. He has had a great start to this one, picking up five points in his first nine games.

Things picked up considerably in the last five minutes, with both teams getting on the board. Anthony Mantha gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead with his fourth goal in the last six games with his new team – it must be the shoes his young daughter designed for him.

Arturs Silovs was busy between the pipes, facing 16 shots in the opening frame. He got some respite early in the second, when Pittsburgh’s red-hot power play went over the boards. They had scored four goals in the last two games, and nearly got another – but video review determined the puck didn’t cross the line behind Elvis Merzlikins.

“It got stuck in his armpit and I thought it was over the line,” Crosby said. “So, I think his stick ended up keeping it on the other side of the goal line. We had a couple of those that were behind him and they couldn’t find their way in unfortunately.

“But we’re making the most of our time (on the power play). We’re doing a good job of getting entries, which is big. And once we get in there, we’re not forcing a ton. Whatever’s there, we’re taking it. But for the most part there, we did a good job of taking what was given.”

The Blue Jackets scored late in the second and twice more in the first five minutes of the third before Pittsburgh started swinging the momentum back, despite losing last year’s leading goal scorer Rickard Rakell. He left the game with an upper-body injury after blocking a shot, and is being evaluated.

“I think we just started to simplify a little bit,” Rust said. “We started to put pucks in the O-zone and just try and outwork them. And I think we needed a little bit more of that effort kind of throughout the whole game.”