Marchment's hat trick powers Blue Jackets past Lightning

COLUMBUS -- Mason Marchment had a hat trick and an assist for the Columbus Blue Jackets in an 8-5 win at Nationwide Arena on Saturday to end the Tampa Bay Lightning’s point streak at 15 games.

Charlie Coyle scored his 200th NHL goal and had two assists, Adam Fantilli also had a goal and tallied two assists, and Jet Greaves made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets (24-20-7), who have won six of seven.

Columbus led 4-2 after the first period, with Tampa Bay tying it 4-4 in the second before the Blue Jackets responded with two goals before the end of the period.

“The thing that sticks out for me is just the way that we bounced back after they kind of came back and pushed against us in the second there,” Marchment said. “For us to keep our foot on the gas and keep frustrating them was huge.”

Nikita Kucherov scored and had three assists, Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist, and Jonas Johansson made 23 saves for the Lightning (32-14-4). Their 14-0-1 streak was the third-longest in team history behind 16 games in 2018-19 and 18 in 2003-04.

“You can’t overshadow the fact that, in our last 30 points, we got 29 of them and at some point a team’s going to beat you,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They’ve got a good squad over there. They’ve got one of the best defensemen in the League (Zach Werenski), and they were ready for us.

“This will be an easy one to turn the page and move on to a home stretch here.”

The Lightning, on the second of a back-to-back after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout on Friday, lost defenseman Erik Cernak to an injury and forward Gage Goncalves due to illness late in the first period, and defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous left in the third period.

"We knew we were just going to keep coming, and they played back-to-back and they're on the second night of that," Coyle said.

Cole Sillinger made it 1-0 at 5:47 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left circle after a neutral zone turnover.

Guentzel tied it 1-1 at 7:48 thanks to an own goal. After he dumped the puck, Greaves tried a clearing pass but it went into the net off the skate of Columbus forward Isac Lundestrom.

Marchment regained the one-goal lead 2-1, juking the defender before taking a wrist shot from the slot at 8:37.

Darren Raddysh evened it 2-2 at 10:01 with a power-play goal before Fantilli broke his 17-game goal drought at 18:33 to push it 3-2.

Dmitri Voronkov got the poke check on Lightning forward Yanni Gourde in the Blue Jackets offensive zone, took the puck to the net and got a wrist shot off in front to make it 4-2 at 19:47.

“That first period, we had too many turnovers,” Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. “That's a fast, skilled team over there that could capitalize on their chances.”

Kucherov cut it to 4-3 at 3:29 of the second period. Brandon Hagel made a diving, cross-ice pass to Kucherov, who got the backhand shot past Greaves.

Cirelli tied it 4-4 at 4:58 on a 2-on-1, and Marchment put the Blue Jackets ahead 5-4 with his second goal at 9:05. Six seconds after coming out of the penalty box for serving a coincidental roughing minor penalty with Gourde, Marchment put a wrist shot between the stick and pad of Johansson from the left circle.

Coyle pushed it 6-4 at 18:57 with a power-play goal. He got the pass from Fantilli at the left post and put it under the pads of Johansson with a wrist shot.

Sean Monahan scored an empty-net goal at 14:55 of the third period for the 7-4 lead, and Guentzel made it 7-5 at 18:54 with Johansson pulled for the extra attacker.

Marchment scored into an empty net at 19:35 for his third career hat trick and the 8-5 final. He has eight goals in nine games since being acquired from the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 19.

“We'll play better than that,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “But it doesn't matter, find a way to win any way you can.”

NOTES: Kucherov has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in a five-game point streak and 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) in 11 games in January.