Penguins finish preseason by beating Blue Jackets

The Pittsburgh Penguins won their preseason finale, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets, 7-3, at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.

Blue Jackets forward Mikael Pyyhtia (second goal of the preseason, 4:35 of the first period) and defenseman Cole Clayton (first goal, 5:05) opened the scoring.

Penguins forward Noel Acciari responded with his third goal at 6:27 of the opening frame. Only 68 seconds later, forward Rickard Rakell tied the score, collecting his second goal during a power-play sequence.

Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi scored his team-best fourth goal at 5:54 of the second period. Linemate Rutger McGroarty got his first goal 11 seconds after that.

Acciari struck again at 11:36 of the second frame. That was offset by Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson’s second goal at 13:15 of the second.

Penguins forward Lars Eller notched his second goal this preseason at 14:55 of the second period then scored again at 8:15 of the third frame.

Goaltender Joel Blomqvist made 26 saves on 29 shots as his record improved to 2-1-0.

The Penguins completed the preseason with a 4-3-0 record.