Blue Jackets vs. Penguins: Cam Talbot Makes NHL History as Kent Johnson Wins the Shootout

A 39-year-old goalie is not supposed to be the headline in a game where his team fires 47 shots. Cam Talbot made it happen anyway, and he did it by making history in the least flashy way possible.

Talbot stopped 20 of 22 shots through overtime, then shut the door in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Friday night at Nationwide Arena. Kent Johnson scored the only goal of the shootout, and Talbot, in his Blue Jackets debut, became the first goaltender in NHL history to earn a win with nine franchises.

Columbus Owned the Ice, Then Let Pittsburgh Back In

How lopsided was the opening? Per NHL.com, Talbot saw just three shots in the first period. Columbus spent most of the evening camped in Pittsburgh's end, and the final numbers back that up: 47 shots to 22, 30 faceoff wins to 15, 21 hits to 9.

Damon Severson, playing his first game of the season, opened the scoring at 10:52 of the first. Zach Werenski slid a pass across the ice to the left circle and Severson hammered the one-timer, with Cole Sillinger also earning an assist.

"I was still just figuring out the game," Severson said. "I just tried to keep it simple."

Mathieu Olivier doubled the lead at 11:40 of the second when his shot from the right circle went in off Sergei Murashov's skate at the post. Severson and Sillinger assisted again. At that point, Columbus had the kind of control that usually ends in a comfortable night.

"The guys did an unbelievable job to start," Talbot said. "We were all over them, controlled the pace to that game from pretty much start to finish."

The Turning Point: Rust Flips the Script

Then Bryan Rust changed the temperature. At 14:30 of the second, he drove wide around Severson and slipped the puck past Talbot's left pad for his second goal of the season, with Samuel Girard assisting. Just like that, the Penguins had a pulse.

"It was hard to turn the game around, to get momentum," Murashov said. "But thanks to Rusty, he scored a really important goal and we were able to come back to the game and get one point."

Evgeni Malkin tied it at 3:19 of the third in gloriously messy fashion. Erik Karlsson wound up for a slap shot, and the puck took a pinball route, off Olivier's stick and then off Malkin, before wobbling in. It was Malkin's third goal of the season, and nobody in Pittsburgh was asking for style points.

Neither team scored again through regulation or overtime, which sent the game to a shootout.

Shootout Theater

Johnson went first for Columbus and beat Murashov with a snap shot. That turned out to be the entire scoring summary. Murashov stopped Conor Garland and Charlie Coyle, but Pittsburgh never answered. Talbot turned aside Rickard Rakell, watched Egor Chinakhov miss high and wide, then denied Ben Kindel to end it.

The Penguins left Sidney Crosby out of the shootout, which will fuel a few hours of talk radio in western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse explained the call.

"Sid's definitely in the mix," Muse said. "It's just, there's a number of guys and you're making that decision based on right now."

Talbot's Eras Tour and Murashov's Losing Masterpiece

Talbot's career has become its own Eras Tour. Per the AP, he has now won games with the Rangers, Edmonton, Philadelphia, Calgary, Minnesota, Ottawa, Detroit, the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus. NHL.com noted the only other goalies to win with at least eight franchises are Sean Burke, Ron Tugnutt and Curtis McElhinney. At 39 years, 96 days, he also became the oldest goaltender in Blue Jackets history to record a win with the franchise.

"He was a veteran who knows how to play," Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. "He knows how to keep himself in the game, right? He's been around."

Murashov deserves his own ovation, though. He made 45 saves on 47 shots, including 23 in the second period alone, per NHL.com. Without him, this one is over by the second intermission. Muse gave his goalie full credit and his skaters a pointed reminder.

"He played really well. He made some huge saves. He did his part. I thought we found our game more in the third period," Muse said. "But you can't just play for 20 minutes."

Severson finished with a goal and an assist in 22:20, Sillinger added two assists and three hits, and Werenski logged a heavy 29:36 with three blocked shots. For Pittsburgh, Karlsson played 24:50 and set up the tying goal, while the Penguins as a group blocked 19 shots.

Stats That Matter

• 47-22: Shots on goal, Columbus over Pittsburgh.
• 66.7%: The Blue Jackets' faceoff win rate, 30 of 45 draws.
• 45: Saves by Murashov in a game his team lost.
• 0 for 6: The two power plays combined. Columbus went 0 for 4, Pittsburgh 0 for 2.
• Nine: NHL franchises Talbot has now won games for, a first in league history.

What It Means

Columbus improves to 2-1-0, all three games on home ice, and rebounds from a 4-1 home loss to Utah on Oct. 3. The bad news is the effort required. Outshooting someone by 25 and needing a shootout is the hockey equivalent of acing the homework and almost failing the test.

Pittsburgh falls to 2-2-1 and has lost three straight (0-2-1) after opening the season 2-0-0. There was at least a silver lining in the rally, and Crosby saw it.

"We got a big goal from Rusty there, and then 'Gino,'" Crosby said. "So, we started to find our game there later as it went."

NHL.com noted this was the fifth straight meeting between these teams decided past regulation. Both clubs turn right around on Saturday: Pittsburgh hosts Dallas, and Columbus visits St. Louis.

The Takeaway

At 39, Talbot is not trying to win with acrobatics anymore. The job is staying sharp through long quiet stretches and being ready when the game finally needs him. Columbus needed him for three shootout attempts, and Pittsburgh got nothing.

"I just tried to keep focus, talk a lot, play the puck whenever I could, and just focus on whatever shots were coming my way," Talbot said.

Nine franchises, one simple plan. Hard to argue with either.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.