COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled at times in an injury-filled season. Edgar Santana Jersey . When a game is in the balance, however, they still have the personnel and the experience to end up with the two points. Chris Kunitz and Beau Bennett scored goals 47 seconds apart midway through the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves and the Penguins clinched a playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. "I thought to a man we stepped up," coach Dan Bylsma said after his team ended a string of three regulation defeats. "Were fighting for every inch we can get right now. Tonight, this was exactly what weve talked about and wanted from this game. It was a playoff-type game, with playoff-type intensity." The Penguins are now at 99 points to move closer to clinching the Metropolitan Division title. But it was far from easy, particularly without star forward Evgeni Malkin (foot) and other injured mainstays such as Paul Martin, Pascal Dupuis and Kris Letang. Bennett hadnt played in the past 50 games after surgery on his wrist. Yet he came up with the game-winning goal. "Skating on my own, its a lot of skill stuff," he said of the hours spent rehabbing the injury and trying to get back into game shape. "Its something thats grown my game even with being out. I felt pretty good out there." Fleury was at his best early -- and late. He made a terrific save on the first shift on Cam Atkinsons shot off a deflection. Then he made huge saves on Brandon Dubinsky and Atkinson during a scrum in front of the net in the final seconds. "He was outstanding all game," Bylsma said. After a chippy game with lots of hard checks and few great scoring chances, the Penguins finally broke a scoreless battle at 10:35. Sidney Crosby carried the puck through the neutral zone and slid a pass to Kunitz whose wrister from the top of the left circle avoided the outstretched stick of defenceman James Wisniewski to beat backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, who had stopped the first 28 shots he faced. It was Kunitzs 34th goal. Before that goal could be announced to a capacity crowd of 18,908, Bennett skated with the puck up the right wing on an odd-man rush. He tucked a hard wrist shot inside the far post for his second of the season at 11:22. "That first one, it shot through our defenceman and unfortunately I picked it up late," said McElhinney, who took over in place of the flu-ridden Sergei Bobrovsky. "The second one they capitalized on a 2-on-1. Its a simple game; sometimes its just a matter of getting the right bounces." McElhinney had 29 saves as Columbus dropped to 0-5 against the Penguins this season. "In four of those five games, its been good hockey," said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. "It just came down to one or two plays -- and they were the team that made the plays." Wisniewski scored a power-play goal for Columbus with 3:06 left to cut the lead to 2-1. Pittsburgh hung on as Fleury stood tall in the last 10 seconds to turn away the potential tying goal. "I took a shot and we kept banging," said Dubinsky. "They collapsed on the net pretty hard and the puck squirted off to the side." The Blue Jackets came into the game in a four-way tie for a wild-card spot in the East. Despite the loss, the Blue Jackets still hold the first wild-card spot in the East. They own the tiebreaker against the other three teams with 80 points (Detroit, Washington, Toronto) due to wins in regulation. "We have to understand the urgency and desperation we have to come out with tomorrow (at Carolina)," Wisniewski said. Notes: The Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday that the Blue Jackets are 29th in the 30-team NHL in attendance, drawing 14,347 per game. Despite a 23 per cent increase in season-ticket sales to 8,600, attendance has actually dropped from last season (14,564). ... After a sunny, warm day in Columbus, a weatherman appearing on the monitors during the second intermission was loudly booed for predicting snow on Saturday. Dave Parker Jersey . I kept my eyes focused up on the camera during each approach. I just tried to stay focused on my form, as I didnt know what the ball reaction was. I was quite emotional at the end. I did not actually see any of the shots in the game until I got home and watched the video. Max Carey Jersey . Bradley is one of eight players selected to the team who also played in this years World Cup in Brazil. The MLS all-stars will compete against German giants Bayern Munich in Portland on Aug. BEREA, Ohio -- Johnny Manziels No. 2 jersey has double meaning. Hes behind Brian Hoyer. Browns coach Mike Pettine said Hoyer is "securely ahead" in the competition to be Clevelands starting quarterback this season, but his lead over Manziel isnt "insurmountable." After the Browns ended their three-day mandatory minicamp Thursday, Pettine sized up the battle as a friendly fight that will heat up when the team opens training camp late in July. Pettine said Hoyer, who is recovering from knee surgery and has been limited during practices, still has a grip on the starting job -- for now. "Its been hard to evaluate because Brian hasnt been able to take the 11-on-11 reps, but when we put the depth chart together, Brian will be No. 1," he said. Pettine agrees with Browns general manager Ray Farmers evaluation that Manziel, the wildly popular 2012 Heisman Trophy winner and first-round draft pick from Texas A&M, has some catching up to do. Manziel is trailing Hoyer, but maybe not by much. "I dont think its insurmountable," Pettine said. "Brian is securely ahead of him right now, but we will compete and we will decide. The issue for us as a staff is finding the right time to name a starter. If you wait too late, then nobodys ready for the opener, if you do it too soon, then it wasnt a true competition. "That will be part of our discussions as well as far as OK, heres the plan, heres a date that we want to go ahead and name him." During recent workouts open to the media, Manziel has shown some of the flashes that earned him the Johnny Football nickname in college. But there have also been moments where he looked like another lost rookie. Pettine made it clear the Browns have not made any decisions and the competition is still in its infancy. "We havent really been in the mode of thinking, Hes this far ahead today. How much was the gap closed?" Pettine said. "Theyre still learning the bbasics of the offence. Willie Stargell Jersey. The rookies havent been here very long. Theyre playing catch-up from a playbook standpoint. So at this point, we really werent keeping score. " Pettine kept Hoyer and Manziel off limits to reporters this week, hoping to contain a story thats expected to only grow. In the next few weeks, Pettine and his staff will decide how to best divide the snaps between Hoyer and Manziel. Pettine said its safe to assume the duties will be shared. "I dont know how even well get it, but there will definitely be times when Johnny will be with the ones (starters)," Pettine said. "It would be hard to evaluate if we didnt that. If there wasnt a competition, then it would just be strictly ones and ones, twos and twos. We havent met to go over that." Pettine also plans to play Manziel with Clevelands starting offence in exhibition games. "If a guy has a chance to be a starter, I would think that youd want to expose him to a starting defence if he was going to be the guy opening day," said Pettine. Manziel has made some headlines with his off-the-field antics in recent weeks. He partied poolside in Las Vegas with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and was filmed spraying champagne on patrons in a nightclub. Last weekend, he was in Austin, Texas, where he was photographed lying on an inflatable swan raft in a pool, drinking champagne. Pettine wont micromanage Manziel or any of his players as long as theyre not involved in anything thats criminal or affects their jobs. But with a long break coming up, hes hoping all the Browns steer clear of danger. "Its nervous any time your entire team is dismissed," he said. "As a coach, you hear your phone ring and you kind of look at it with one eye, hoping its not an issue coming up. We talked to them about it. We wanted to make sure that they handled themselves well. The advice was: Learn the system, stay in shape, stay out of trouble." ' ' '
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