Hagel has three points, Lightning defeat Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Brandon Hagel scored twice and had an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Jake Guentzel scored and had an assist, Nikita Kucherov had two assists, and Dennis Hildeby made 28 saves for the Lightning (13-4-2). 

“Sometimes you're going to need your goalie,” Hagel said. “He stood tall for us early in the first period and we were able to find one. .. Our goalie stood on his head, and when your goalie is standing on his head, you just want to push a little bit harder for him, and I think that's what our guys did.”

The Lightning are 6-1-2 in their past nine games, including an 8-3 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

“I feel like every time I come here, it's always on a back-to-back and an away back-to-back,” Hagel said. “The score sometimes is high-scoring games, and obviously tonight it went a little bit different.”

Matthew Knies scored, and Jet Greaves made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-10-0), who have lost three straight and have scored five goals in their past four games.

“Until we figure out how to put the puck in the net, we won't win any games,” Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov said. “I don't think it's our attitude, it's not how we come out or anything like that. We just have to find a way to put the puck in the net. I mean, we scored one tonight, we scored one the game before we scored only two the game before that.

“We’ve got to find a way to score more greasy goals, more traffic, deflections, whatever it takes. I think that's our issue so far.”

Guentzel, who was playing in his 700th NHL game, gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 1:06 of the third period. He took a backhand pass from Hagel in the left circle and scored with a shot that trickled through the pads of Greaves.

Knies blamed himself for creating the opportunity for the Lightning.

“I made a bad play, turned it over with some of the best players on the ice, and they capitalized,” he said. “So, then we're chasing it for the rest of the way there.

“Just a really crappy third period by us.”

Hagel made it 3-1 at 7:41, scoring from a sharp angle below the right circle. He has five goals in his past three games.

Hagel had opened the scoring at 2:57 of the first period, converting from in front after controlling a big rebound off a shot from the high slot by Charle-Edouard D'Astous.

“It was a great team effort,” D’Astous said. “Everyone contributed. Dennis made some huge saves. Our first line, just being a first line.”

Knies tied it 1-1 at 12:20 of the first with a power-play goal, tapping in a backdoor pass from Kent Johnson. It was his first goal since scoring twice in the season opener, a 6-3 win against the Sabres on Oct. 1.

“It was huge for us to score first, and I know they eventually tied it, but we never really had to chase it,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Then I thought in the second and third we did try to do our best to slow them down.

“They're a rested team and they've got some fast players, pretty active 'D' back there. For the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job slowing them down.”

Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness missed the game due to an illness. Assistant coach Don Granato was in charge behind the bench.

“There's no hiding it,” Granato said about Columbus' difficulties with scoring. “That's going to affect you psychologically when you know your margin is slight to begin with, and if you're not scoring at all, then you know that becomes even tighter.”

NOTES: The Lightning were without defenseman Erik Cernak and forward Anthony Cirelli. Each was injured against Buffalo and is day-to-day, according to Cooper. ... Forward Yanni Gourde (maintenance) did not play. ... The Lightning used 11 forwards and seven defensemen. ... Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan left with an upper-body injury with 29 seconds remaining in the second period.