The Lightning and Blue Jackets now stand tied at one in their First Round series after Columbus took Game 2, 3-1.
Despite a strong start, the Lightning found themselves trailing 2-1 through 20 minutes.
Nikita Kucherov scored his first goal of the series just over five minutes into the first period to give Tampa Bay the early lead. After Ondrej Palat's shot missed high, Kucherov gathered the puck below the goalline and banked it off Joonas Korpisalo to put the Lightning in front.
The Blue Jackets grabbed the momentum back after killing off a Seth Jones tripping call midway through the first period. Less than a minute after the successful PK, defenseman Ryan Murray slipped into the slot and redirected a feed from Pierre-Luc Dubois past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Oliver Bjorkstrand then gave Columbus the lead with his second power play goal of the series late in the period. The Blue Jackets won the faceoff and cycled the puck to Bjorkstrand who beat Vasilevskiy to the stick side with a one-timer.
After a scoreless second period, Alexander Wennberg gave the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead midway through the third. Wennberg made a strong move to the net past Kevin Shattenkirk and managed to jam the puck through Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1.
Up by two with less than 10 minutes to play, Columbus' defense tightened up and kept Tampa Bay's chances to a minimum down the stretch to preserve the victory.
For the second straight game, the Lightning weren't shy at throwing pucks toward Korpisalo. The Bolts finished with a 37-22 advantage in shots on goal but the combination of strong play from the Columbus netminder and a few defensive lapses for the Lightning proved to be the difference. The Blue Jackets carried over their great shot blocking numbers from Game 1, leading 21-14 in that category on Thursday afternoon.
The teams will trade locker rooms for Games 3 and 4 with Columbus serving as the "home" team. Obviously no home crowd advatage to be gained but the Blue Jackets will get the matchup benefit of the last change.
Game 3 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Scoring Summary 1st Period
TBL | 5:24 Nikita Kucherov (2) - Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point
CBJ | 12:52 Ryan Murray (1) - Pierre-Luc Dubois
CBJ | 18:35 Oliver Bjorkstrand (2) - Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alexandre Texier - PPG
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
CBJ | 11:27 Alexander Wennberg (2) - Liam Foudy, Nick Foligno
