The Tampa Bay Lightning played a solid first two periods of hockey. However, the Columbus Blue Jackets almost made a four-goal comeback in the third period, but the Lightning held on for a 5-3 win. The Lightning played much better this time against the Blue Jackets, where they lost a sloppy barnburner by a score of 7-6 in overtime.
Lightning Collect Third Straight Win Against Blue Jackets
The Lightning came out hot in the first period, as Luke Glendening (2) opened the scoring just 3:21 into the game off a beautiful re-direction from a point shot. Nick Paul was inches away from making it 2-0 in favor of Tampa Bay, but goaltender Jet Greaves shut the door with a breakaway toe save.
Tampa Bay doubled Columbus in shots on goal and quadrupled them in high-danger chances via NaturalStatTrick.
In the second period, the Lightning extended their lead to four. Paul (7) kicked things off 1:28 into the period with a deceptive, no-look shot cutting across the slot to double the Bolts’ lead. Then, rookie Conor Geekie caught Blue Jackets defender Dante Fabbro in the knee, who was ruled out for the rest of the game with a lower-body injury.
A few shifts later, Jake Guentzel (18) picked up his rebound on a rush by Paul, extending his goal-scoring streak to seven games. Following a pair of goals, Columbus’ Cole Sillinger took a run at Geekie, giving the Lightning a five-minute power play. After a lackluster first few minutes up a man, the second unit found the back of the net when Paul centered a pass to Mitchell Chaffee (6) at 14:18 to close the period.
Lightning center Anthony Cirelli left the game in the second period with an injury. However, he returned to the bench early in the third period.
The third period was all Blue Jackets. Mikael Pyythia (2) started the comeback with a shorthanded goal from Sean Kuraly. The Blue Jackets followed up with a snipe from Adam Fantilli (6) less than a minute later with 8:05 to go in the third. Sillinger (6) added a power-play marker to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to one, but Brayden Point (21) secured the win with an empty net tally.
Greeves’ solid goaltending performance allowed Columbus to hang around early on. The Columbus netminder was excellent despite the loss, making multiple high-danger saves.
The Lightning are back in action on Thursday when they host the St. Louis Blues at home for puck drop at 7 p.m. On the other hand, the Blue Jackets face the red-hot New Jersey Devils at home on Thursday night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
Three Stars of the Game
- Nick Paul (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Luke Glendening (1 goal)
- Jake Guentzel (1 goal, 1 assist)
