Postgame Analysis: Blue Jackets run out of gas in Game 3 loss

When Saturday night's Game 3 opened between Columbus and Tampa Bay, it looked like the Blue Jackets had the Lightning right where they wanted them.

Columbus controlled the opening minutes, earning three power plays -- including an extended 5-on-3 -- and taking a 9-2 edge in shots on goal.

After a Game 2 victory to even their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series at a win apiece, the Blue Jackets seemed to have all the momentum.

And then things changed on a dime. Perhaps buoyed by the fact it killed those penalties, Tampa Bay scored late in the first period and went on to outshoot the Blue Jackets by a 32-8 margin the rest of the way while earning a 3-2 victory that gave the Lightning a 2-1 edge in the series.

While the Blue Jackets have spent much of the past week denying that all of the hockey the team has played was a factor, maintaining that a mind-over-matter approach would allow the team to push through, head coach John Tortorella said it looked like his team simply ran out of gas on this night.

Learn about CBJ Season Ticket Plans

"The recap for that game was I thought we played probably our best 11 or 12 minutes of the series so far to start the game," Tortorella said. "We're just as a group, we have been wading a little bit here. I thought it was going to be the prior game of hitting the wall with all the hockey that we've played.

"I have to figure that's what happens tonight because it was the whole group of us. From the 12-minute mark of the first period, we were just, we're not the team we need to be obviously in the series."

Some credit also must go to a Tampa Bay team that absorbed that early punch from Columbus and roared back, looking like the squad that many have said boasts the deepest and most talented roster in the NHL. The Lightning were simply smothering both offensively -- earning a 16-4 edge in shots on goal in the second and scoring a pair of goals in the latter half of the period to turn a 1-1 game into a 3-1 advantage -- and defensively, allowing just three shots on goal to Columbus in the final period.

The Blue Jackets scored early in the second and third periods with goals by Riley Nash and Eric Robinson, respectively, but could not turn either tally into momentum as Tampa Bay would go on to control momentum for each of those two periods.

Were the Blue Jackets just tired? Did Tampa Bay find its game? Were there any strategic tweaks for the Bolts, and are any in the cards for Columbus?

Whatever it was, the Blue Jackets will try to make it a different story on Monday afternoon.

"I don't know if we got to the blue enough tonight," Nash said afterward. "I Thought we did a good job of that the other night. Just a combination of things. They played a solid game, so we'll come back, we'll look at some film and we'll be ready to go for Game 4."

Power outage: In each of the previous six playoff games vs. Tampa Bay, the Blue Jackets had scored a power-play goal, tallying a total of seven times on the man advantage on the way to a 5-1 record.

They were given a golden opportunity early in Game 3 to continue that streak when the Lightning took three minor penalties in the first eight minutes. Consecutive penalties to Zach Bogosian for tripping at 7:07 and Blake Coleman for slashing at 7:41 gave the Blue Jackets a 5-on-3 of 1:26, which signaled an early momentum point in the game. Either Columbus would score to seize that momentum, or the Lightning's penalty kill would create some for the Bolts.

It was the latter that took place, but it also took some luck for Tampa Bay. Columbus sent plenty of pucks toward Andrei Vasilevskiy and earned consistent pressure on the power play but could not put the puck in the net. The toughest miss was off the stick of Emil Bemstrom, who rocketed a one-timer off the near post from low on the left with Vasilevskiy beaten. There was also a great play made by Victor Hedman, who used his stick to break up a cross-ice pass to an open Liam Foudy at the back door.

"You could play the 'what if game' all you want," Nash said afterward. "That's hockey. You have to adapt and play on. I don't think it really took any momentum away. I thought we got a lot of good looks. It was nice to see the power play clicking like that. We've scored in back-to-back games before this one. It's going to be a huge part going forward."

On the other side, there was a different feeling.

"It was a huge lift," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said of the 5-on-3. "It was probably the turning point of the game."

Youngsters move up:With Columbus failing to generate much in the second period, Tortorella came out with a much different look with his lines in the final frame.

Bemstrom moved up to join Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexandre Texier to start the period, with Robinson being put on a line with Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand as well. Robinson cashed in early in the period when he came off the bench on a line change and scored moments into his first shift of the frame, a goal that earned him ice time with Dubois and Bemstrom as the period went on.

"It's a nice play by (Alexander Wennberg) there," Robinson said of his first career playoff goal. "I just got an early change with play down in the zone, so I was fortunate to come off the bench and Wenny finds me. The puck bounces around and luckily it lands on my stick."

In the final moments as Columbus pushed for the tying goal, Bemstrom was on the ice as well. It was a chance for some of the younger CBJ players to show what they could do in a big moment, while Tortorella admitted he was looking for a spark.

"Just trying to develop something," he said. "We score a goal, but we don't get much after that. Just trying to throw it against the wall and see what sticks."