Columbus scored twice in the game's first four minutes to quickly build the lead. Alexandre Texier scored his first goal of the series less than three minutes into the game and Pierre-Luc Dubois converted on a power play 1:12 later to double the Blue Jackets' lead in the early going.
Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the series nine minutes into the game, taking a feed from Nikita Kucherov and beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a quick shot.
The Blue Jackets responded early in the second period on Seth Jones' second goal of the series to reestablish a two-goal cushion.
Goals from Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point less than five minutes apart drew the Bolts even in the second period. Paquette redirected home a point shot from Braydon Coburn to pull the Lightning within one and Point scored his first goal of the series on his backhand minutes later to tie the game at three.
Just 54 seconds later, however, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the game-winner as the Bolts tried to gain control of the puck after they were called for a delayed penalty. At the end of a long sequence of pressure, Bjorkstrand was finally able to force the puck through Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Blue Jackets the lead for good.
Tampa Bay had its chances in the third period, throwing plenty of pressure Bobrovsky's way but the goaltender was up to the task. The Bolts outshot the Blue Jackets 13-5 over the final 20 minutes but ultimately couldn't beat Bobrovsky.
The Blue Jackets added a trio of empty net goals down the stretch to round out the scoring.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
CBJ | 2:26 Alexandre Texier (1) - Seth Jones, Pierre-Luc Dubois
CBJ | 3:38 Pierre-Luc Dubois (1) - Oliver Bjorkstrand, Adam Clendening - PPG
TBL | 8:44 Steven Stamkos (1) - Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli
2nd Period
CBJ | 6:28 Seth Jones (2) - Cam Atkinson, Matt Duchene
TBL | 13:03 Cedric Paquette (1) - Braydon Coburn, Jan Rutta
TBL | 17:52 Brayden Point (1) - Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
CBJ | 18:46 Oliver Bjorkstrand (2) - Scott Harrington, Pierre-Luc Dubois
3rd Period
CBJ | 18:07 Artemi Panarin (2) - Unassisted - EN
CBJ | 18:26 Alexandre Texier (2) - Zach Werenski - EN
CBJ | 19:51 Matt Duchene (3) - David Savard, Scott Harrington - EN
