Since the Olympic Break ended, the Lightning have been trying to regain their pre-Break form. Unfortunately, in this game against Columbus, they remained in a funk. Another subpar performance led to a sixth regulation loss in their last seven games.
In the earlier two games this season between the clubs, the Blue Jackets had success attacking the Tampa Bay end with speed. But in this contest, the Lightning’s primary problem wasn’t related to rush coverage. It was their puck play. They struggled to complete passes. They fumbled pucks. They committed turnovers.
Those issues were evident from the onset, even though the Lightning scored the only goal in the first period. In the opening 20 minutes, they ceded possession to Columbus and yielded several dangerous scoring chances. Andrei Vasilevskiy made nine first-period saves to keep Columbus off the board.
But the Lightning’s puck play didn’t improve in the second period, and the Blue Jackets eventually broke through. A sequence in which the Lightning failed to clear the defensive zone led to a faceoff in the Tampa Bay end. The Blue Jackets won the draw and worked the puck to Ivan Provorov at the right point for a one-timer that deflected past Vasilevskiy at 5:57. On the next shift, the Lightning had the puck in the offensive zone for a brief stretch. The puck was cleared to the Tampa Bay end. Although the Lightning had three players back defensively, not one of them could cleanly handle it. Instead, Sean Monahan jumped on the loose puck directly in front of the Lightning net. After Vasilevskiy stopped Monahan’s point-blank shot, Kent Johnson followed up and passed to Conor Garland for an open look in the low slot. Garland buried the shot at 6:27. In a 30-second span, the Jackets had grabbed the lead.
Minutes later, Columbus extended the advantage during a well-executed power play. The Blue Jackets maintained possession after a scramble play near the Lightning net caused Vasilevskiy to lose his stick. Kirill Marchenko hammered a left-circle shot past a stickless Vasilevskiy at 11:42.
Later in the frame, the Lightning received back-to-back power plays but couldn’t score. However, J.J. Moser scored on a point shot moments after the second power play ended.
Down by a goal entering the third, the Lightning surrendered another power-play goal at 4:00. On that play, Zach Werenski held in a clearing attempt at the right point and threw the puck into the low slot. Declan Carlile was in position to stop the puck and clear it, but the puck slipped under his stick. That miscue allowed Monahan set up Garland for a backhand shot in the slot that beat Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning generated little pressure the rest of the way, and the Jackets added an empty-netter.
Yielding goals in bunches and struggling on the PK have been problem areas during their 1-6 skid. They were again problem areas tonight.
After the contest, Lightning players spoke of the need to simplify their game. They’ll get a chance to do that when they host Detroit on Thursday.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Conor Garland — Blue Jackets. Two goals.
- Adam Fantilli — Blue Jackets. Assist.
- Ivan Provorov — Blue Jackets. Goal.
