Scott Hartnell of the Columbus Blue Jackets reacts after scoring a goal during the second period of a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 22, 2016 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) The Columbus Blue Jackets throttled the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-1 to win their 11th straight game and take over first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Scott Hartnell picked up a hat trick as the Blue Jackets stymied the Penguins’ powerful offense while flashing their own scoring touch.
With the victory, the Blue Jackets improved to 22-5-4 with 48 points – one point ahead of both the Penguins and New York Rangers in the division and tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the most points in the NHL. The Blue Jackets have played three fewer games than the Penguins and four fewer games than the Rangers and Blackhawks.
“They believed they can win, where in the first period I thought we were wetting our pants, so it was a great process for a young team to go through the last two periods,” coach John Tortorella said.
After Sidney Crosby scored a gorgeous goal at the 2:39 mark of the first period, the Blue Jackets took over.
Cam Atkinson tied the game at the 13:01 mark of the first and then William Karlsson netted a goal off a one-handed behind-the-net pass from Sam Gagner midway through the second period to give the Blue Jackets the 2-1 lead.

Hartnell scored the first of his three goals at the 12:20 mark of the second period off a backhand on a partial breakaway to put the game at 3-1.

He scored again at the 2:44 mark of the third when he whipped home a pass from Gagner to put the score at 4-1.

Hartnell notched his third of the game at the 6:24 mark of the final frame, much to the delight of the 19,113 fans in attendance – the ninth largest home crowd in Columbus history.

Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets.
The hat trick for Hartnell was the ninth of his NHL career and his first since March 24, 2015 against the Anaheim Ducks.

“Three goals is three goals,” Hartnell said. “It’s a nice accomplishment. Goals have been few and far between for me the last 15, 20 games so it’s nice to contribute.”
The Penguins came into the game with the NHL’s top offense at 3.45 goals per-game – Columbus was second at 3.30 – but couldn’t muster much after Crosby’s goal. They only fired 16*shots on goal after the first period.
Columbus’ drubbing of the Penguins continued a stunning turnaround this season from a dreadful 2015-16, where they finished with the fourth-worst record in the NHL.*The win over the Penguins was the third game where the Blue Jackets had scored seven-or-more goals.*Columbus also improved to 5-0-0 against the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s been our mentality to keep attacking teams no matter what the score is,” Gagner said. “We didn’t do that in the first. We did in the second and third and it paid off for us.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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