The Blue Jackets scored their first playoff victory in a hard-fought 2OT battle with the Penguins Saturday night.
Rather than applaud Columbus' gritty effort, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Joe Starkey opined it was the Penguins that got the best of themselves.
Here are some of Starkey's thoughts on Game 2 of the series, in which Pittsburgh squandered a 3-1 lead as the Blue Jackets elevated their level of play in the final two periods of regulation, then extra time.
- "Every time the Penguins start to feel good about themselves, it seems they want to feel better. Good isn't good enough. They are hockey's great narcissists -- hopelessly addicted to their own wondrous skill," Starkey writes.
- Instead of praising Matt Calvert's skill or intuitiveness to score with the Pens on the power play, Starkey laments head coach Dan Bylsma's strategy: "The Blue Jackets had no business getting back in this game. Bylsma left the screen door open."
- Calvert's short-handed goal was, in Starkey's words, the result of "sheer Penguins arrogance."
- Oh, and the Blue Jackets MVP certainly would not be Calvert, who scored two goals including the game-winner, or anyone in a Jackets uniform, according to Starkey: "Kris Letang again generated some beautiful Columbus scoring chances. He's been the Blue Jackets' MVP through two games."
Sore loser, much?
