Then there has been the last piece of the puzzle -- sizzling shots that have left Tampa netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy without a chance. Jones and Bjorkstrand each wired wristers home for their goals, while Werenski picked a spot and fired through a screen to beat Vasilevskiy in Game 2.
"I think we've worked hard at it all year," Werenski said. "We have the right personnel out there to be successful. Right now it's just clicking for us. We're playing direct, we're playing simple, we're not trying to do too much."
"Both groups have had good puck movement and we have had some people around the net," head coach John Tortorella said.
The penalty kill has been a perfect 5-for-5 in the series, perhaps not a surprise since the Blue Jackets finished just behind the Lightning by killing 85.0 percent of opposing power plays this season. Columbus was particularly stingy from New Year's Eve on, killing 86 of 94 chances over the second half of the season.
But the Lightning were supposed to be quite the test having entered the game with the NHL's best power play at 28.2 percent. Instead, the Bolts are minus-1 having allowed a shorthanded goal to tie the game in Game 1 by Josh Anderson after Columbus took a four-minute high-sticking penalty that could have allowed the Bolts to ice the game.
In Sunday's Game 3, the Jackets didn't allow Tampa Bay to even have a power play. Afterward, captain Nick Foligno complimented the team for keeping its discipline during a feisty game.
"Your emotions can come into it for good things, but they have to be taken out when something comes against you," Foligno said. "Guys took hits tonight, they blocked shots, they took slashes, and that's how you have to play. You have to grind through it. It's hard to do but it's necessary to win hockey games."