It was hard to watch Thursday's game and not feel like the Blue Jackets were building confidence as the day went on.
As the team took a 2-1 lead in the first period and then was able to bring it home on the way to a 3-1 victory that tied their first-round playoff series with Tampa Bay at one win apiece, the Blue Jackets' style that led to success a year ago against the Lightning was again on display.
The numbers again show a Columbus team that was outshot and outpossessed, but the Blue Jackets did a lot of things they had to do to earn the win. They scored a power-play goal, something they've done in every playoff game against the Lightning over the past two years. They earned an early lead, another common theme while going 5-1 against Tampa Bay the past two years. And from there, they played a sound defensive game and got good goaltending from Joonas Korpisalo to finish things off.
It's a team-based style that the squad feels very comfortable playing, as the Blue Jackets have built that as an identity under head coach John Tortorella.
"I think we were more comfortable out there, more comfortable in our game," defenseman Ryan Murray said of the difference from Game 1. "It seemed like we were more solid all over the ice, and Korpi made some big saves when he had to. Big blocks, good sticks. I think we just played a really complete game tonight."
If there's a stat that had to make the Blue Jackets feel good, it's how they were able to grind down the last 20 minutes. One game after seeing a 2-1 lead disappear in the third period, which led to the epic five-overtime loss in Game 1, the Blue Jackets played a perfect defensive style in the third period of Game 2.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Columbus actually had an edge at 5-on-5 in expected goals -- a measure of shot frequency and quality --- in the third period even as Tampa Bay pushed, while the teams were tied with two scoring chances from high-danger areas apiece in the final 20 minutes.
The Blue Jackets proved they can come back if need be in Game 3 of the Toronto series when Columbus overturned a 3-0 deficit on the way to an overtime win, but the real secret sauce for the team is to follow a certain script.
Early leads, power-play goals, excellent goaltending and strong defending are a pretty good mix for a team that has a lot of comfort in playing in tight games.
The Blue Jackets wouldn't complain about a big lead or two, but so far, facing a team that led the NHL in scoring throughout the regular season for the second year in a row, Columbus has been comfortable and confident in how it's been able to control the style and pace of the games against the Lightning.
"We're feeling good," center Pierre-Luc Dubois said. "The team is feeling great. Korpi is playing really well for us, giving us confidence to try to play, and we know he can make up for our mistakes. The back end, the same thing - blocking shots, making good plays defensively. The team is feeling really good right now."
Know the Foe
A year ago, Tampa Bay entered its first-round series against Columbus as the highest-scoring team in the league, averaging nearly four goals per game. The Bolts then scored eight goals in four games - just two per game - on the way to crashing out in a stunning sweep.
So far in two games this year, despite having played more than 10 periods, the Lightning again have scored four goals in the first two games - an average of two per game.
Having watched Korpisalo turn aside 121 of 125 shots on goal to this point in the series to post a .968 save percentage, the Lightning said the key to getting more pucks in the net will be in creating even more havoc in front of the CBJ goalie.
"To be honest with you, I don't think our forwards are doing a really good job of getting in his eyes," forward Patrick Maroon said. "When you get in the goalie's eyes, he gets moving and you get those second and third opportunities because the D are battling with you in the net front and your forwards are coming down."
On the season, Tampa Bay finished with 3.47 goals per game, but the tallies have been harder to come by thus far. The team's top line of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat has had some success, with Point posting two goals in the opener and Kucherov tallying the team's lone goal of Game 2. The third line of Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow has the other tally and has been a pretty consistent presence in the offensive zone.
But Tampa's second line of Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Anthony Cirelli is so far scoreless after combining for 56 goals on the year, and a power play that clicked at 23.1 percent this year is scoreless in six opportunities. As a result, the Bolts will continue to try to find more offense as they approach Game 3.
3 Keys to the Game
Keep winning special teams: Columbus is 2-8 on the power play thus far while Tampa is 0-6, trends that play right into the hands of the Blue Jackets.
Win battles: A big part of the team's defensive success in Game 2 was capturing 50/50 battles, including outracing the Lightning multiple times to negate icing calls.
Korpi-star-lo: A hot goalie can push a team to not just victories in games but victories in series when the postseason comes around. So far, Korpisalo has been that goalie when it comes to stealing wins.
Of Note
The Blue Jackets have allowed just seven goals in 459:20 of 5-on-5 play in seven playoff games, an average of 0.91 goals allowed per 60 minutes. ... Pierre-Luc Dubois (4-4-8) leads Columbus in scoring in seven postseason games and has a goal and three helpers in the first two games of this series. … Oliver Bjorkstrand has scored in four straight postseason games vs. Tampa Bay, with three of them game winners. … Of the 15 goalies to play in at least four games so far in the bubble, Korpisalo leads all of them in goals-against average (1.29) and save percentage (.962). … Korpisalo has 121 saves over the first two games of the series. … Two Blue Jackets goalies have scoreless streaks of at least 100 minutes in the playoffs thus far -- Korpisalo (111:04 in Game 1) and Elvis Merzlikins (105:38 in Games 3 and 4 vs. Toronto). … In NHL history, when a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 owns an all-time series record of 215-106 (67.0 percent).
Roster Report:Columbus lost Atkinson and Gerbe for Game 2 as both were deemed unfit to play. The team did not practice Friday so it remains to be seen if either will return or any other lineup changes will come for Game 3.
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