Penguins-Blue Jackets preview

Some news, notes and numbers in advance of Game 5 in the Penguins’ first-round playoff series against Columbus at Consol Energy Center tonight:

*** Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who left the Penguins’ practice Friday early, did not participate in the game-day skate. If, as seems likely, he doesn’t play, Robert Bortuzzo is the apparent choice to replace him, although Deryk Engelland also is a candidate.

*** The Penguins’ lines at their skate were Kunitz-Crosby-Stempniak, Jokinen-Malkin-Neal, Bennett-Sutter-Vitale and Glass-Goc-Adams.

*** Neither Bortuzzo nor Marcel Goc has played in this series.

*** Columbus expects to have injured defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Ryan Murray in the lineup tonight.

*** The team scoring first has lost each of the first four games in this series.

*** D Paul Martin, who leads the Penguins with eight points, has a four-game points streak, equaling the longest of his playoff career. His eight points are a career high.

*** Four Blue Jackets – Brandon Dubinsky, Jack Johnson and Boone Jenner – have at least one point in each of the first four games of the series.

*** The Penguins are 16-7 in Game 5 when it is played at home.

*** Thirteen of the 28 goals scored in this series have been generated by special teams.

*** Penguins LW Chris Kunitz has 44 career playoff points, tying him with Sergei Gonchar for 10th place on the team’s all-time list.

*** The winning team has rallied from a multiple-goal deficit in each of the first four games.

*** Columbus will be playing in the first Game 5 in franchise history. The Blue Jackets were swept by Detroit in four games in their only previous playoff appearance.

*** The Penguins have scored on just one of their past 16 power plays.

*** Columbus is blocking an average of 18 shots per game, up from 13 during the regular season.

*** Penguins C Brandon Sutter has three points in four games, matching his total from 15 games in the 2013 playoffs.

*** Columbus has trailed after 40 minutes in each of its two victories, both earned in overtime.