Let's begin by looking at this one from Columbus' perspective. The Blue Jackets had dropped the first game in the two-game set, so they were hungry to earn the split. Following the blockbuster trade between Columbus and Winnipeg on Saturday morning, the Blue Jackets had the Pierre-Luc DuBois controversy in their rearview mirror. And, perhaps most significantly, head coach John Tortorella had been stressing to his players since Thursday's OT loss to the Lightning that they needed to clean up their neutral zone play. During that first meeting, the Lightning generated numerous chances off the rush. The Jackets tightened things up on Saturday afternoon. The rush chances that were so plentiful for the Lightning on Thursday simply weren't available in this contest.
The one odd-man rush that the Lightning generated on Saturday came early in the game - and they cashed in on it to score the opening goal. Mitchell Stephens knocked the puck past Zach Werenski at the Lightning blue line and rushed around him, creating a three-on-one. Stephens' pass to Alex Volkov in the slot deflected to Victor Hedman, who had joined the play. Boone Jenner disrupted Hedman's initial shot attempt, but the Lightning defenseman maintained possession. He swept a backhander through Elvis Merzlikins to make it 1-0 at 4:10.
But the lead lasted only 17 seconds. On the all-important shift after a goal, the Blue Jackets answered. After Cam Atkinson got around Hedman and put a puck to the net, Andrei Vasilevskiy swept it away. But it went directly to Nick Foligno, who rifled it into the net. The Lightning endured other coverage issues in the first period - and paid dearly for those miscues. Off the rush, Mikhail Grigorenko delivered a drop pass to Kevin Stenlund and drifted toward the corner. Stenlund's shot handcuffed Vasilevskiy and the puck fell behind him in the crease. Grigorenko had a clear path to the crease and stuffed in the rebound. Then late in the period, following a Lightning neutral zone turnover, the Blue Jackets added another. The Jackets dumped the puck into the Tampa Bay end and it caromed to Liam Foudy at the right circle. He set up Vladislav Gavrikov, who was unguarded in the slot. Gavrikov zipped a shot past Vasilevskiy to extend the Columbus lead.
The Lightning netted a power play goal before the period ended, so they only trailed by one after 20 minutes. But the Blue Jackets continued to effectively bottle up the neutral zone during the final two periods. The Lightning struggled to break through center ice with speed. And when they possessed the puck in the offensive zone, they had a difficult time generating Grade-A looks. Merzlikins was solid in making 18 saves over the final 40 minutes. Two of his best came in the third period - a point-blank stop on an Alex Killorn shot from the low slot and a left pad rebound save on Brayden Point. But most of his other saves didn't need to be spectacular - his teammates boxed out well in front and allowed him to clearly see the shots that came his way.
The Jackets maintained the one-goal lead until the 6:36 mark of the third, when they got an insurance tally from Werenski. The play began with a Lightning turnover just inside the offensive blue line. That led to a Vasilevskiy save on an Oliver Bjorkstrand breakaway and sustained pressure from the Blue Jackets in the Lightning end. Eventually, Werenski got loose at the left circle and ripped his shot into the net. An Eric Robinson empty-netter set the final at 5-2.
The Lightning had to deal with two injuries. Erik Cernak left in the first period and Stephens was hurt in the third. So they had to go with shortened bench. But ultimately, Columbus deserved the two points in this one. The Blue Jackets played at a high level, delivering a sound, structured performance with few mistakes. On this day, the Lightning weren't able to match it.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Bobby "The Chief" Taylor):
1. Seth Jones and Zach Werenski - Blue Jackets. Combined for goal and assist.
2. Eric Robinson - Blue Jackets. Goal and assist.
3. Elvis Merzlikins - Blue Jackets. 30 saves.
