Sidney Crosby scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, marking their fifth straight win. The Penguins overcame a three-goal second-period hole at Nationwide Arena on Sunday. Rickard Rakell tied the game with 14 seconds left in regulation.
The Pittsburgh Penguins (20-12-9) extended their winning streak to five games with a dramatic 5-4 overtime triumph against the Columbus Blue Jackets (18-16-7) at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on January 4, 2026. Coming off a 4-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings the previous day, Pittsburgh rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second period.
Ville Koivunen opened the scoring for the Penguins at 1:50 of the first period, tipping a Jack St. Ivany shot past Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves for a 1-0 lead. Columbus responded quickly, with Dmitri Voronkov tying it at 1-1 at 8:21 on a redirect of a Denton Mateychuk shot. Moments later, Mason Marchment put the Blue Jackets ahead 2-1 at 8:48, cleaning up a rebound from Adam Fantilli's breakaway. Kirill Marchenko extended the lead to 3-1 at 18:38 with a low-angle shot assisted by Zach Werenski, marking Werenski's 300th NHL assist.
Werenski struck again 47 seconds into the second period, snapping a shot through traffic to make it 4-1. Noel Acciari narrowed the gap to 4-2 at 16:51 of the middle frame. In the third, Tommy Novak's power-play goal from the high slot at 3:26 brought Pittsburgh within one at 4-3.
With Arturs Silovs pulled for an extra attacker, Rakell tied the game 4-4 at 19:46, redirecting a Crosby pass from the slot. Crosby then sealed the win at 2:22 of overtime with his own goal against Greaves, who made 38 saves. Silovs stopped 21 shots for Pittsburgh.
Werenski and Marchenko each tallied a goal and an assist for Columbus, who had won 5-1 against Buffalo the night before to snap the Sabres' 10-game streak. Mateychuk added two assists. Marchment, acquired from the Seattle Kraken on December 19, has seven points in seven games since the trade.
