Game 2 win over Tampa Bay sent Blue Jackets home with momentum

With Fox Sports Ohio broadcasting the Blue Jackets' first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lighting in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs -- Game 2 will be shown tonight at 8 p.m. -- BlueJackets.com is taking a look back at each game of the series. Each story will include a recap of the game, Jackets Insider Jeff Svoboda's take on what it meant as the series continued to develop, and fans' memories from the contest.

Game 2 promised to be a fascinating contest after the Blue Jackets roared back from a 3-0 deficit to capture the opening game of last year's first-round playoff series vs. Tampa Bay.

And it was. It just didn't unfold the way many likely expected it to.

Anyone who thought the Lightning, fresh off a 62-win season in which the team was as dominant as any in NHL history during the regular campaign, would have a response ready ended up being mistaken. Columbus took a 3-0 lead early in the game, then scored two crucial goals in the third period to ice a 5-1 win that sent the team home with a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven playoff series.

It was similar to the year prior when the Blue Jackets won two straight in Washington to open the playoffs, but those two games against the Caps each took overtime. This time, things felt a little different as the teams flew back to Columbus with the Blue Jackets holding all the momentum -- and Tampa Bay about to be depleted for Game 3.

How it happened:Fresh off scoring four straight goals to end Game 1, Columbus kept adding to its streak by taking 2-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes and a 3-0 advantage in the first 22.

It was Cam Atkinson who started the scoring just 5:15 into the game, as Matt Duchene took possession of the puck in the left hand corner after a strong forecheck and fed the 41-goal scorer in front, and his deflection went off the gear of Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and trickled across the goal line.

The Blue Jackets continued the hot start on the power play a few minutes later, as Duchene won a faceoff back to Zach Werenski to start the man advantage. Werenski skated toward the center of the zone and unleashed a wrist shot that got through traffic and Vasilevskiy to make it a 2-0 game.

Duchene then got a goal of his own early in the second, also on the power play. Werenski fed the puck across the zone to Artemi Panarin for a shot from the left circle, and Duchene pulled the rebound out of traffic and fired past the helpless Tampa goalie to make it a 3-0 game.

"We were ready to play," head coach John Tortorella said.

Tampa's best chance to cut into the lead in the second went wanting when Steven Stamkos' wrister from the left circle on the power play hit the bar. Stamkos was again left frustrated early in the third when Sergei Bobrovsky was down and out but his shot was kept out by a skate in front.

But the Bolts got one back five minutes into the third, this time with a little luck on their side. A Mikhail Sergachev shot from the left side got past Bobrovsky and banked into the net off the skate of Markus Nutivaara to make it a 3-1 game.

But rather than fold, the Blue Jackets stood strong against the Tampa push before putting the game away with a pair of goals. Boone Jenner won a battle along the wall and found Riley Nash open in front, and his quick wrister flew past Vasilevskiy to make it 4-1 with just over 10 minutes to go.

Then came the dagger, a beautiful goal set up by the forecheck of Panarin. He pushed a Lightning defender off the puck, allowing Oliver Bjorkstrand to claim it along the wall, setting up a tic-tac-toe goal from the Danish forward to Duchene back to Panarin at the side of the net for a slam-dunk home -- as well as Duchene's fourth point of the night.

"I like the way our team played," Tortorella said. "I think we're getting better and better in certain situations. We're going to have to keep on getting better but I thought we played better than Game 1. We're going to have to play better in Game 3 than we did in Game 2."

There were also some moments of physicality in the game. Late in the first period, Werenski and Brayden Point dropped the gloves, allowing the CBJ defenseman to notch the first Gordie Howe hat trick in franchise playoff history.

"I'll probably never get one again, but it was a pretty cool moment tonight for sure," Werenski said. "Everyone is calling me Gordie now. It's pretty funny."

And in the final two minutes, a hit along the boards by Nikita Kucherov on Nutivaara resulted in a game misconduct and eventual suspension for the NHL's leading scorer and an injury that would keep Nutivaara out for the rest of the postseason.

BACK IN TIME (stories from during the playoff run): Jackets played for each other during sweep | Columbus brushed aside adversity, too | Facts, figures from CBJ sweep | Fans dressed for success | CBJ wanted more after series | It was time to believe

Jeff's take:A year later, I have to admit -- this game developed nothing like I thought it would.

After the Blue Jackets roared back to capture Game 1, I thought it was a shot across the bow of the Lightning. After a dominant, historic 62-win regular season, I figured the Bolts would come out on fire in Game 2, smarting from the opening loss and ready to show they were going to make this a series. At the very least, it seemed like the Blue Jackets would have to survive the first five minutes and go from there.

Instead, the Blue Jackets were on the front foot from the beginning. The first real sign that this wouldn't be a similar postseason story for Columbus was the way it didn't back down at the start of Game 2, from the goals by Atkinson and Werenski in the opening 20 minutes to the fact Werenski, a blueliner known more for his skill than his physicality, dropped the gloves with Point in the opening frame.

By the time Duchene slammed home the third goal early in the second, it was clear the Lightning were discombobulated. By the time the Blue Jackets shut the door with two goals late, it was clear things were worse than that for the Bolts. And by the time Kucherov sent Nutivaara into the boards, a frustration-laden hit that led to the league MVP's suspension for Game 3, it was clear the Blue Jackets had a clear mental edge heading back to Columbus.

"So now we've got some adversity, and teams face this all the time," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "You face it in little pieces. This is a five-alarm fire."

At that moment, it felt like the Blue Jackets had the Lightning where they wanted them.

The fans say

On Twitter, I asked Blue Jackets fans their memories from the Tampa series, with more than 70 emailing me. Their memories of Game 2 -- some of which have been edited for clarity and grammar -- follow, with more to be released throughout the week as we get together to watch each game.

Andrew Whitmer

Game 2, we fully expected the CBJ to lose after Game 1, but the boys took it to the Lightning. It was completely the opposite of what we thought would happen. We played The Doors song "Five to One" a lot after that game in Tampa (Ybor City). When I flew back to Columbus, there were about 10 Tampa fans on the flight. They looked worried.

Amy Conley

I remember being in Sarasota with my mom for Game 2. I listened to/watched the game with her and a flight attendant as we boarded our connection in Atlanta, listened in the car on the way to the hotel, and watching the news anchors dumbfounded after the game on the local nightly news saying CBJ won. They looked so shocked! My mom and I just smiled as we ate our dinner in the hotel room. Our only regret was not planning on coming down the day before and trying to get tickets to the game! We'd have driven up from Tampa for it!

Zach Paquette

My friend from Cleveland joined me to watch this game. He wasn't a huge hockey fan, but he had a general understanding of the sport and wanted to get into it now that the Jackets were on a roll. Of course I was on cloud nine during this game as we beat them pretty bad. The best memory I have from Game 2 was when we were up 3-1 midway through the third and I looked over at my friend and said, "We need to score here to add some insurance." Riley Nash must have heard me because not even two minutes later, he scores the goal to put us up 4-1. I told my friend he is welcome to watch any of the games with me since he seemed to be the good luck charm. I even went as far as letting him watch the games in my dorm room when I wasn't there for Games 3 and 4 just so we wouldn't lose that good luck.

Josh Thomas

My best memory of that series was during Game 2. We were on our way to Florida for family vacation and I was listening on my phone until takeoff and had to stop while we were up 2-0. Longest plane ride of my life. When we landed I fired up the iPad and literally a second later Riley Nash scored to make it 4-1 and secure the victory. It was very difficult to not lose my cool on the plane (tweet included below). What a series! Got to watch the sweep in Destin, Florida, with my family.