3-1 Leads Not Nice in Jackets Penguins Series

One would think that if you would have a 3-1 lead in the third period of a hockey game, the odds of you winning the game would be pretty good right? Try explaining that to the Blue Jackets and Penguins. Both teams have come into the game tonight spotting 3-1 leads in each of the first three games, Columbus in game one and three, and Pittsburgh in game two. In each instance, the team who had that lead would lose.

As for tonight, Pittsburgh would jump to an early 3-0 lead, and would look as if they were going to cruise to victory against this Blue Jackets team, who on paper doesn't match up to the mighty Penguins. Columbus would score late to be down 3-1 late in the first and go into the locker room down at that score. One has to wonder if the Penguins had that stat from the first three games in the back of their heads in the locker room, or if they were told to protect the lead.

Columbus would chip away at the two goal Penguin lead, and make it 3-2 in the second. At this point one starts wondering if it could happen again. Could another 3-1 lead be blown and the victory be 4-3 for the fourth straight game?

With under a minute left in the third, and the Jackets goalie on the bench, the hometown kid, Brandon Dubinsky, would tie the game at three and would send it to overtime. Once again a 3-1 lead is blown, and once again the final score would be 4-3. In recent memory, I can never remember a series being like this one. One where the team who scores first has lost every single time. The one where every final score was 4-3, and most of all, one where a 3-1 lead is blown in every single game.

None the less, the game goes to overtime and just 2:49 into the period, the game is over. Nick Folingo would fire, what looked to be a harmless shot, from just inside the blue line on the left side of the zone, and somehow would get by Penguin goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

If you would have told me after game one that this series would have a game six, let alone two Jackets wins, I would have laughed at you. The Penguins looked as if they came into this series very cocky and thinking they would have to go five games max to end this series.

This series actually reminds me a lot of the Wild and Avalanche in 2003. Nobody gave Minnesota a chance, but the hard working Wild fought their way to the second round, getting passed the stacked Colorado Avalanche. It's the same situation in this series, although Columbus didn't win game one and have to fight off a 3-1 deficit in this series.

I can't wait to see how the rest of this series plays out and I think there could possibly be an upset in the making, sending the Penguins, and their fans, home with a sour taste in their mouths, just like the Avalanche back in 2003.