The Lightning have been playing excellent team defense in recent games, but they struggled in that department during the first period. The Blue Jackets executed their game plan well - they disrupted plays in the neutral zone, which prevented the Lightning from going on the attack. In the offensive zone, they held in attempted Lightning clears. And they put plenty of pucks on net, forcing Vasilevskiy to make a multitude of tough saves. Vasilevskiy's performance in the first period was a big reason why the Lightning eventually won the game. So was the work of Kucherov, who netted two goals. The first came off a two-on-one counter with Yanni Gourde (who received a long outlet from Mikhail Sergachev after Ryan McDonagh broke up an attempted Columbus rush at the Lightning blue line). Gourde set up Kucherov in front and he finished a backhander past Joonas Korpisalo. Later in the frame, the Blue Jackets fumbled the puck in the neutral zone, leading to a Kucherov breakaway. Again, he finished on a backhander, extending the Lightning lead. But those two goals were nearly the only offensive highlights for the Bolts in the frame. Instead, with most of the action taking place in the Tampa Bay d-zone, they leaned heavily on Vasilevskiy to keep Columbus off the board.
Both teams lost a key defenseman to injury in the first. Columbus went the rest of the game without Ryan Murray while the Lightning had to play without Victor Hedman. With the Bolts down to five defensemen, it would have been even tougher sledding for them had the second and third periods resembled the first. Instead, the Lightning cleaned up their puck management in the second period, so they didn't have to spend as much time defending in their own end. Up until the late stages of the period, both teams had some isolated looks, but couldn't convert. The Blue Jackets took a goalie interference penalty and then were whistled for too many men on the ice just over a minute later. There were 33 seconds left in the period when the five-on-three began. Had the Lightning not been able to convert before the period ended, they would have only carried 19 second of two-man advantage time into the third. So the fact that Brayden Point won the offensive zone faceoff to begin the five-on-three was critical. Four seconds later, Steven Stamkos ripped home a shot from the left circle. That goal made it 3-0 after two.
The Lightning carried the five-on-four into the third and Point added to the lead with a goal off the rush just twelve seconds in. He scored again at :46. A 2-0 contest became 5-0 in a 1:15 span. Kucherov assisted on all three of those goals. The five-point game tied a personal-best, matching his five-point outing in Edmonton on December 22. He now has a league-leading 99 points, one away from his career-high.
Columbus posted 11 third period shots, but the Blue Jackets' attack was mostly quiet until the closing minutes. A counter chance off the rush ended Vasilevskiy's shutout at 18:15. Officially, the Lightning set a team franchise record for consecutive scoreless minutes. Dating back to the third period of Tuesday's game against Calgary, the Lightning went 184:04 without allowing a goal. Vasilevskiy played all of those minutes, but he ended up about 18 shy of John Grahame's individual franchise record for scoreless minutes.
Of those 184 scoreless minutes for Vasilevskiy, the first 20 in Columbus may have been the toughest. But his brilliant performance, along with Kucherov's dynamic night, helped the Lightning win their sixth in a row.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Brian Engblom):
1. Nikita Kucherov - Lightning. Two goals and three assists.
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 39 saves.
3. Brayden Point - Lightning. Two goals and assist.
