What We Learned: PIT 3, CBJ 2 (SO)

PITTSBURGH - Most of the night, it was like old-time hockey inside PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
There were post-whistle skirmishes. There were multiple fights. There were end-to-end rushes, great saves and big goals scored at key times.
There were also two late calls that led to matching power-play goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Blue Jackets, and that led to overtime and a shootout - which the Penguins won for a 3-2 victory on a wild night between two teams that clearly irritate each other.
"It was a crazy game," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We found a way to battle back in, and get a point. I kind of wish we'd just let the teams decide the games instead of other people getting involved in it. Two teams going at it hard. We'll take the point, and a lot of good things come out of it, and we'll get onto our next game."
His reference to "other people," was about the officials, who assessed a game misconduct penalty to Columbus forward Boone Jenner after a melee following the final horn of the second period. They also presided over the matching minors late in the third that resulted in power-play goals.
Columbus was called for a face-off violation, which led to Evgeni Malkin giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead with 4:57 left in regulation. Pittsburgh was then called for too many men on the ice, which led to Artemi Panarin scoring 1:11 after Malkin to tie it up again, 2-2.
None of those calls sat well with Tortorella, who thought an exciting game was a bit marred by technicalities.
"That's the way you're supposed to play the game," Tortorella said. "They were hitting. We were hitting. There were a couple of fights here and there. The thing that frustrates me is, then, everybody else get out of the way. Get out of the way and let the players decide the games."
The Blue Jackets did their part by finding a way to earn a point. They were outshot, 41-32, didn't have the puck as much as they wanted and leaned heavily on goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 39 saves.
Ordinarily, earning a point under those circumstances would be a little more satisfying. This just wasn't an ordinary regular-season game. It was sort of an old-time hockey game, and had the feel of a game between old rivals.
These guys, however, aren't old rivals. They're burgeoning new rivals, and they staged a entertaining night of hockey, until the whistles blew.
"It's just frustrating to me," Tortorella said. "There's some really good players out there. It's a highly-competitive game. I think a little bit of rivalry's coming into play here. Get out of the way and let the players decide."
Here are six things we learned:

I: WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Guess who looked like himself again?
That would be the Jackets' No.1 goalie, Bobrovsky, who'd had a tough stretch of eight straight starts prior to this game. Many of the goals he'd allowed in going 3-5-0 weren't his fault, but getting a night off Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed him to reset everything.
He was sharp right out of the gate against the Penguins, and it took two nice tipped shots to beat him. The Penguins dominated in shots in the first two periods, outshooting the Jackets 30-19 and making Bobrovsky work hard to keep Columbus in the game.
He had several outstanding efforts to keep the puck out of the net, including a sequence in the first when he denied Phil Kessel twice in less than 30 seconds.
In overtime, he made a save on the only shot the Penguin put on net to help force the shootout - when Kris Letang beat him in the third round for the deciding goal.
II: WHAT RIVALRY?
Prior to the game, Jackets defenseman Seth Jones was asked whether Columbus views the Penguins as a rival. He declined to give that label to the series between Metropolitan Division teams.
"I think every game in our division's important," Jones said. "I'm not gonna do that, and say that these guys are our rivals. We've had some great games against them. I've only been here for one, but we've had a couple playoff series against them. Should be a good battle tonight."
It took two periods for the game to look like two rivals squaring off, with one fight in the first and two more in the second - including Jones pairing off with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby during a melee after the horn sounded.
Jenner was assessed the cross-checking major and received his game misconduct during that skirmish, which followed a fight between Jackets captain Nick Foligno and Penguins star center Malkin 29 seconds earlier - in which Malkin threw a gloved punch at Foligno in the low slot, after play stopped.
"I have no idea where that came from," Foligno said. "That's what surprised me. I was [ticked] I even let him get me with one. He surprised me, and said something about how I got him on the ground, but I just remember it being a scrum in front of the net, trying to keep him away from the puck. Apparently, he just came up swinging."
There were more post-whistle flare-ups in the third, including Josh Anderson and Pittsburgh's Kris Letang going off for roughing and cross-checking violations.
III: TORTS MISSES DUBI
Columbus coach wasn't asked about Brandon Dubinsky in his pregame press conference, but the injured center became the focus of an answer to a question about moving Foligno back to center Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tortorella said he didn't really like playing Foligno at center, but felt the need to put him back there without having Dubinsky - who's out 6-to-8 weeks with a fractured orbital bone in his face sustained in a fight with Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian on Dec. 12 at Nationwide Arena.
"I don't think it's great for Nick [playing center], I really don't, but this is a situation we're in," Tortorella said. "You know what? I miss Dubi. He doesn't have big numbers this year, he makes a ton of mistakes in the game, all the time, but I miss him on the bench. The boys miss him on the bench."
Dubinsky had 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 31 games before the injury. He'd also had his alternate captain's 'A' removed by Tortorella early on, and given to defenseman Jack Johnson.
Stats are measurable, though. Emotion and leadership are harder to assess. Sometimes, they're most noticeable when they're gone.
"We miss him," Tortorella said of Dubinsky. "He's a little bit of the heartbeat of our team, but we don't have him. We're probably not going to have him for a while here, so we have to just [kind of] make it work here."
Tortorella was asked if the Jackets' bench was quieter without Dubinsky.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "He's a pain in the [butt] on the bench. He's emotional, and that's important. Talk about points that we wanted to cure, our emotion in the game. I think it's one [thing] that's fluctuated a little bit. Dubi doesn't allow that … but with [two] defensemen out, 'Dubi' being out, you become a better team if you work through this. So, we'll just try to find our way and see where we go."

IV: PLD VS. SID THE KID
Dubois said he didn't necessarily have this game circled on the schedule, but he also was quite aware of which player would be on the opposing team.
Like a lot of kids from Canada, Dubois grew up a big fan of Crosby, who played junior hockey in Rimouski, which was the rival of the team where Dubois grew up. Dubois' dad coached that team, against Crosby, and he collected some autographs on a puck, poster and hockey card.
"It's going to be fun," Dubois said before the game. "It's fun now, thinking about it. It's going to be fun after the game, you know, knowing that I played against him. But during the game, the preparation before the game is the same. On the bench, I'm thinking the same things. He's a really good player, but I mean, it doesn't change anything when I'm on the ice."
The Penguins deployed Crosby against Dubois' line most of the night, but "Sid the Kid" wasn't on the ice when Dubois scored his eighth goal of the season and second in as many days.
V: SEDLAK STEPS UP
Jackets center Lukas Sedlak isn't known as a fighter, but he stepped right into one late in the first period. He challenged Penguins enforcer Ryan Reaves after Reaves slammed Markus Hannikainen hard into the boards in the Columbus zone.
Reaves won the fight decisively, but Sedlak probably won a lot of favor from his teammates by stepping up for Hannikainen.
"One guy I was impressed with is 'Sedzy,'" Foligno said. "That's a huge, tough guy, and I think it boosted our team to see that. It's not easy to do. It takes a lot of [guts], and when you see young guys do that against tough guys that are proven, and a guy that's really been a force in this league for a long time, it just really shows how much he cares about this team."
Sedlak's actions earned recognition from Tortorella, as well.
"I think he's dumb to do it," he said. "But high marks for doing it."
VI: NUTI GAINING CONFIDENCE
The Jackets played their second straight game without defenseman Zach Werenski, who's day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Markus Nutivaara filled in Wednesday on the top pairing with Jones, when Columbus defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, at Nationwide Arena. He was right back there on the top defense pairing Thursday against the Penguins, and again handled the role solidly - playing 22:05 and using his stick to break up several potential scoring opportunities in front of Bobrovsky.
"'Nuti, he's in our top pair, and it's his turn," Tortorella said. "I thought he played really well [Wednesday] night. I loved his poise with the puck. [He] didn't get rattled, made some good plays up the middle of the ice. I thought he stood in there really well. This is an education. Our back end got younger when we lost [Werenski]. We brought in [Gabriel Carlsson] and guys are in different spots, but this is part of improving as a team in the big picture, when you have these types of injuries we have right now on our back end."