A first period lead wasn’t enough for a Tampa Bay Lightning victory on Tuesday in a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tampa Bay took a lead with Gage Goncalves’ redirection of a Victor Hedman point shot, but Columbus scored three straight goals to open the second period.
Defenseman JJ Moser reduced the lead to a single goal with his score from the blue line, but the Blue Jackets made it 5-2 with a power-play goal and empty-net tally in the third.
Five different Bolts registered a point, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 26 saves.
Tampa Bay next hosts the Detroit Red Wings in a divisional matchup on Thursday.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, CBJ 0
13:38 Gage Goncalves (8) - Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov
Tampa Bay opened the scoring on a redirection from Gage Goncalves in his return to the lineup, getting his stick on a point shot from Victor Hedman.
Shots on goal: CBJ 9, TBL 4
Second period
TBL 1, CBJ 1
5:57 Ivan Provorov (8) - Denton Mateychuk, Charlie Coyle
The Blue Jackets tied the game on a shot from the blue line that bounced off a Lightning player in front of the net.
CBJ 2, TBL 1
6:27 Conor Garland (10) - Kent Johnson, Sean Monahan
Columbus took its first lead 30 seconds after the tying goal as Conor Garland scored from the high slot.
CBJ 3, TBL 1
11:42 Kirill Marchenko (24) - Adam Fantilli, Zach Werenski - PP
A power-play one-timer extended the Blue Jackets’ lead.
CBJ 3, TBL 2
16:23 JJ Moser (7) - Anthony Cirelli
Tampa Bay cut the lead to a single goal on JJ Moser’s shot from the blue line.
Shots on goal: CBJ 12, TBL 8
Third period
CBJ 4, TBL 2
3:59 Garland (11) - Monahan, Werenski - PP
Garland’s second goal of the night came on a backhand shot near the net during a Blue Jackets power play.
CBJ 5, TBL 2
15:28 Dante Fabbro (5) - Elvis Merzlikins - EN
Columbus capped the night with an empty-net goal.
Total shots: CBJ 31, TBL 17
