Jesse Puljujärvi, who moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, scored his team’s opening goal in the victory over Columbus.
Ice hockey in the NHL Jesse Puljujärvi scored the opening goal of the Pittsburgh Penguins when the team’s opponent was the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Puljujärvi had been sidelined for the team’s last two matches. The Columbus match was the ninth of the season for the right-hander from Torni.
The Finn scored the opening goal in the 14th minute of the first period. Puljujärvi received a good pass from his chain mate From Ryan Graves and got away with the cankiest Columbus keeper by Jet Greaves with and shot the puck with an accurate shot into the net.
With a 5–3 win, the Penguins broke their losing streak after the team had lost three games in a row away from home.
– We knew that the game was going to be a difficult place for us, we have been a bit at a standstill. The away game trip was tough, but we knew we just had to keep working, Puljujärvi said in the team interview.
The last time Puljujärvi managed to score in the NHL was 389 days ago in the shirt of the Edmonton Oilers, on February 11, 2023. In the meantime, Puljujärvi also managed to represent the Carolina Hurricanes.
25-year-old Puljujärvi had hip surgery in the summer. At the beginning of February, the Finn signed a two-year contract with the penguin shirts, with an annual salary of 800,000 dollars. Puljujärvi first got a feel for the game in the AHL for 13 matches, in which the right winger scored nine power points (4+5=9).
Remember the Finns of Pittsburgh Joona Koppanen got a good eight minutes of playing time and shot at the goal twice. For 26-year-old Koppase, the match was the fourth of the season in the NHL. Valtteri Puustinen on the other hand clocked almost 17 minutes of ice time, but like Koppanen, remained without power points.
With the win, Pittsburgh is 11th in the Eastern Conference, while Columbus is last.
The nun hit
Florida Panthers, strongly represented by Finns, arrived in New Jersey as a guest of the Devils in the night round. The away team won the match 5–3. The Finns got a taste of the goal Eetu Luostarinenwho scored his 11th goal of the season with a precise shot.
The rest of Florida’s Finns were left without power points in the match. Alexander Barkov and Niko Mikkola clocked a good 18 minutes of ice time, when Luostarinen and Anton Lundell were given responsibility for a good 13 minutes per man.
On the opposite side, Devils’ Erik Haula got a good 16 game minutes of ice time, remaining without power points.
Florida continues to be the top team in the entire NHL, with 35 wins out of 63 games in regular time. New Jersey, on the other hand, is 12th in the Eastern Conference and below the playoff line.