Columbus fans had hoped that a couple of regulation wins in the past two weeks, in which the Blue Jackets dominated the third period, had put an end to the discussion about poor play coming down the stretch.

Alas, the problem reared its ugly head again Sunday when the Jackets gave up four unanswered goals to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins and fell 5-4 in overtime. Columbus led the game 4-1 early in the second period, then gave up a goal later in the period, two in the third, and one in the extra frame.

The Penguins scored first, when Ville Koivunen got on the board just 1:50 after the opening face-off. Columbus posted three goals before the first intermission with Dmitri Voronkov, Mason Marchment, and Kirill Marchenko all hitting the back of the net. Zach Werenski made it 4-1 with a goal 45 seconds into the middle period.

After that, it was all Pittsburgh. Noel Acciari scored with 3:09 left in the second period. In the third, Tommy Novak posted a power play goal. The tying score came from Rickard Rakell with 14 seconds left in regulation. In the overtime, Sidney Crosby jumped on the ice on a line change and beat everyone to the net for the winner.

The Penguins were relentless in getting the puck to the Blue Jackets’ net throughout the contest. Pittsburgh led in shots on goal 43-25. Playing in his second game in as many nights, goaltender Jet Greaves took the loss for Columbus.

The Blue Jackets are on the road again over the next week, starting with a game at San Jose Tuesday. The action gets underway at 10:00 p.m. EST.