Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets faceoff in Game 4 of their best-of-seven NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 series live from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The game can be live streamed for free here. Pittsburgh fans can hear all of the action on 105.9 WXDX while Columbus fans can do the same on 97.1 The Fan.
Pittsburgh looks to take a commanding 3-1 series lead with a chance to clinch the series at home in Game 5 while Columbus will hope to nod things up before going on the road again and to guarantee a Game 6 will be played at Nationwide Arena.
Each team has blown a 3-1 lead in all three games to lose 4-3, with the Penguins notching two 4-3 wins in Games 1 and 3 and the Blue Jackets earning a 4-3 double overtime victory in Game 2.
The Penguins know that they've been entrenched in a tight series and things are unlikely to change.
"I don't think we can expect it to be an easy goal, a flash goal or a 2-on-1, odd-man opportunity. It's going to be dirty and ugly," Pens coach Dan Bylsma said about scoring in this series via NHL.com. "That's where we gotta go and that's where we have to get them from."
The Blue Jackets had a good start to their first home playoff game since 2009 on Monday before ultimately allowing three goals in just over two minutes to lose 4-3.
"Hopefully that's behind us going in to a second home game," Mark Letestu said per NHL.com. "Now we know what to expect, and we can play a simpler, smarter game."
Jack Johnson (three goals, one assist) and Brandon Dubinsky (four assists) have each been spark plugs for the Blue Jackets by notching four points each in the series while Matt Calvert (two tallies, one helper) has three points along with Boone Jenner and Ryan Johansen, who have found the twine once and added two assists.
Defenseman Paul Martin has been a good set-up man for the Penguins thus far in the series, with a team-high six points all off of assists while Matt Niskanen has two goals and two assists for four points and Beau Bennett also has four points off of one tally and three helpers. Sidney Crosby has three points off of assists but he and Evgeni Malkin (0-3--3) have yet to find the back of the net.
Between the pipes, Mark Andre-Fleury will suit up for Pittsburgh after allowing 10 goals on 99 shots while reigning Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky will man the crease for Columbus after turning aside 104 shots and letting up 11 goals.
The Penguins look to take a 3-0 series lead while the Blue Jackets try to nod the best-of-seven series up when the puck drops at the Nationwide Arena tonight in Columbus as part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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