Blue Jackets top Lightning in Game 2 of Eastern First Round, even series

Ryan Murray and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the first period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves after setting an NHL record with 85 in Game 1 for Columbus, which tied the best-of-7 series.

Korpisalo is 3-2 with a 1.30 goals-against-average, a .962 save percentage and two shutouts in six postseason games.

WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Lightning highlights]

"We all know in the dressing room that he is one of the best goalies in the NHL, and he's feeling really good right now," Dubois said. "Every time we make a little mistake, he's there to stop the puck, giving us confidence to try plays, and that's all you can ask for a goalie. And since Game 1, since he started (the postseason), he's been amazing for us."

Nikita Kucherov scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for Tampa Bay, which won 3-2 in the fifth overtime of the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup Playoff history Tuesday.

Columbus has played 422:01 in five games over eight days since Aug. 6, the equivalent of a little more than seven games.

"They played well tonight," Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "They don't give you much. They're patient, they wait for their looks. Whether they have a lot going on or not, they stay in their structure. We have to stay patient too. Even if we don't get a goal, we have to stay with it. We realize we'll get our chances if we stay patient and stick with our game plan."

Game 3 is in Toronto, the Eastern hub city, on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS, FS-O, SUN).

Alex Wennberg scored a highlight-reel goal to give Columbus a 3-1 lead at 11:27 of the third.

"Obviously, it's a big goal for us to give us a little bit of room," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.

Wennberg carried the puck down the right side and played it between his legs to drive outside and past Shattenkirk before cutting to the net to shoot while crashing into Vasilevskiy.

"It felt like a good time to pull that off, so it worked out," Wennberg said.

Shattenkirk took the blame for allowing Wennberg to get around him.

"The initial rush, he had quite a bit of speed on me," Shattenkirk said. "I just bit on the shot and he just made a move on me. But at that point in the game it's a pretty unacceptable play by me to allow us to go down by two there when we really need a goal."

Kucherov gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 5:24 of the first.

The Lightning had the first 10 shots on goal before Nick Foligno was stopped by Vasilevskiy at 12:33. The Blue Jackets tied it 1-1 when Murray cut in front of the net to redirect Dubois' pass from the right corner for his first postseason goal at 12:52.

"It wasn't a great pass, but he's a goal-scorer," Dubois said. "I guess he's a sniper now, and he tapped it in,"

Columbus went ahead 2-1 at 18:35 during a power play when Bjorkstrand one-timed a pass from Dubois for his second goal of the postseason.

"I think we had an exceptional start and we did everything we wanted to," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We dictated play. Now we score that first goal and, to be honest, we might have gotten a little comfortable. The second that happens to you, what happened tonight can get you. We give up that first one, take a tough penalty and get scored on there. We just kind of lost our mojo when we lost the lead."

Blue Jackets forwards Cam Atkinson and Nathan Gerbe were unfit to play. They were replaced by Devin Shore and Emil Bemstrom.

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report