Columbus came out with some jump in the first few minutes, with Tampa Bay then coming back at the Jackets, but the only goal of the first period came with the Bolts on a 5-on-3 power play advantage.
With Alexandre Texier in the box for holding and the team also serving a too many me on the ice penalty, the Lightning got on the board at 15:45 as Brayden Point scored. The Bolts moved the puck around and Point couldn't control a pass near the right post, but he bumped it back to Steven Stamkos, who returned a pass to Point that he stuffed in short side past Merzlikins to make it 1-0.
Columbus had a good chance before the second penalty, as Boone Jenner got in behind the Tampa defense shorthanded, but goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made the stop and it stayed scoreless upon review as the pad of the goalie kept Nick Foligno's rebound chance out of the net on the goal line. Max Domi also had a pair of good looks on the Tampa goalie in transition at 5-on-5 in the first period but came up empty.
The Blue Jackets kept the momentum going and put together one of their best periods of the year in the second, outshooting the Lightning by a 15-7 margin and creating scoring chance after scoring chance. They also got a goal at 9:04, as Werenski tallied on a rebound at the end of a long shift in the Lightning zone as Max Domi put a puck on net, Robinson followed up on the rebound, and Werenski roofed the third chance before anyone else could get to it to make it a 1-1 game.
It could have been more for the Jackets, though, as there were a number of good looks in the period. Werenski had some chances throughout the period and Jenner nearly scored a couple of times, including on a rebound on a shot by Seth Jones and also late in the period when he had an open net on a power-play rebound but Victor Hedman somehow made the save with his stick in the crease. Tampa also had looks late on the power play as Stamkos and Point hit the post on the same man advantage.
Luke Schenn hit the post early in the third for the Lightning as his shot hit Merzlikins' glove and went off the iron. And a tit-for-tat third period broke open with 9:06 to go as Domi hit Robinson with a stretch pass at the blue line along the left-wing wall, and the Princeton alum came in behind the defense on Vasilevskiy and beat the Tampa goalie with a shot below his arm to give Columbus a 2-1 lead.
But the Lightning quickly countered as rookie Ross Colton scored with 5:11 left. He had some space as he came in along the left wing in transition and fired far side past Merzlikins to make it a 2-2 contest.
And then with 4:06 to go, Tampa Bay took the lead. The Lightning came in on the rush and Point centered toward Tyler Johnson, but the puck went off the stick of David Savard as he slid to break up a pass and got by Merzlikins. That was enough for the Lightning to earn the win, as Columbus pushed in the last 2:47 with an empty net but couldn't find the tying goal.
