Blue Jackets 2, Penguins 1 (overtime)

A quick look at the Penguins’ 2-1 overtime loss to Columbus at Nationwide Arena Friday night:

*** Columbus winger Cam Atkinson scored the game-winner at 2:42 of overtime, beating goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on a rebound from inside the right circle, but the dominant storyline was a cross-check Columbus center Brandon Dubinsky delivered to the back of Sidney Crosby’s neck with 80 seconds left in the second period. The league’s Dept. of Player Safety has scheduled a hearing for Dubinsky Saturday.

*** Crosby left the game, but returned after going through the league’s concussion protocol, and general manager Jim Rutherford was adamant that he believes the cross-check merited more than the two-minute penalty Dubinsky was assessed. “Those are the kind of hits a player can be hurt real bad with,” he said. “We have the player lying on the ice, and it’s only a two-minute penalty. This is what we would hope there would be a little stiffer penalty on.” Rutherford said he had not ruled out contacting the league, although the NHL reviews every incident that might merit a fine or suspension without involvement from any team.

*** Crosby obviously did not see the cross-check, since it was delivered from behind, so he really couldn’t say much about the sequence. “There was a battle in front. I guess he cross-checked me in the back of the head,” Crosby said. “He was behind me, and I felt it.” He added that, “it didn’t feel like” two minutes were sufficient punishment.

*** Penguins coach Mike Johnston, on the cross-check: “The referees, they see it like I do – live. It’s a quick reaction to whatever they see. But when you look at it again, it looked bad.”

*** Atkinson’s game-winner – set up by a pass from Dubinsky – soured a sensational night for Fleury, who made 41 saves. “[Fleury] did a great job,” Crosby said. “He kept us in the game.”

*** Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 9:15 of the third period, so the Penguins lost for the first time this season when taking a 1-0 lead. They had won the previous nine.

*** The Penguins protested that Blue Jackets winger Scott Hartnell interfered with Fleury just before Ryan Johansen scored the first Columbus goal, but their challenge was denied.

*** Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist was one of the few who didn’t think the game got especially nasty as it moved along. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Obviously, there were a lot of emotions out there and a lot of intensity. It was just a physical game.”

*** The Penguins have a man-advantage goal in each of the past five games.

*** Crosby, on the Penguins’ sluggish start: “As it went along, we seemed to get our feet under us and get settled a little bit more. We know that, especially here, they come out hard and quick. We still can do a better job of getting to our game a little earlier.”

*** The Penguins lost for the first time in five overtime games this season, while Columbus had a game go past the third period for the first time in 2015-16.

*** Defenseman Ben Lovejoy, on the Penguins’ performance: “We came out with a very poor effort. They were better in a lot of facets of the game. The score was close because [Fleury] was amazing.”

*** Johnston, on the Penguins-Blue Jackets rivalry: “Every game we’ve played them … they’re all intense battles. It’s nice to see the intensity, the rivalry, the passion in the game. That’s the way they’re going to be played.”