Penguins vs Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Defenseman Jack Johnson joined the Columbus Blue Jackets at one of the rock-bottom moments for the franchise, but instead of shying from the challenge of being part of the turnaround, he embraced it.

Monday night, before a frenzied crowd in Nationwide Arena for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was rewarded for his perseverance with the Blue Jackets' first home Stanley Cup Playoff game since 2009.

Although Pittsburgh rallied for a 4-3 win to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, Johnson said the fans did their part with 60 minutes of non-stop energy.

COLUMBUS -- Fans began lining up at 5 a.m. Monday outside Nationwide Arena for the few tickets the Columbus Blue Jackets hold back every game day.

By 10 a.m., a radio station had put up a tent near the ticket office to host programming throughout the day, and inside the home of the Blue Jackets, the red, white and blue bunting had been installed around the arena seating.

Monday is no ordinary day in Blue Jackets history, because the first Stanley Cup Playoff game in nearly five years is coming to Columbus.

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Beau Bennett's second NHL season did not go as planned.

Bennett was expected to play second-line left wing alongside Evgeni Malkin and James Neal entering training camp. After Jussi Jokinen won the position, Bennett was expected to bring much-needed offensive production to Pittsburgh's bottom six throughout the regular season. After Bennett was sidelined through 61 games with multiple injuries, he was expected to bolster its struggling third line upon return.

The last expectation partially became reality.

The 22-year-old forward began the Stanley Cup Playoffs as Pittsburgh's first-line right wing, but will most likely move to third-line left wing for Game 2 of its Eastern Conference First Round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (7 p.m., ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, FS-O, ROOT) at Consol Energy Center.