FINAL: Blue Jackets 5, Lightning 2

The Blue Jackets dealt the Tampa Bay Lightning their first loss of the season in a Saturday afternoon matinee, claiming a 5-2 victory in Nationwide Arena to extend their point streak to four games.
Game in a Paragraph
In contrast to much of what we've seen this year, it was a high-scoring start, as Columbus scored three goals in a row at one point to take a 3-2 lead after one period. It stayed that way through the entire second, but Columbus extended the lead early in the third and added an empty-net goal to down the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Quote of the Game
CBJ defenseman Zach Werenski: "They're a very skilled hockey team and they work hard. Obviously they're going to get their chances. It's just trying to limit those, and I think we did a really good job of that tonight. Elvis had some great saves, but I think as a team, that's a step in the right direction -- how we have to forecheck, how we have to play in the neutral zone. It wasn't perfect by any means, but you can see we were creating offense when we were getting pucks in deep and forechecking and being stiff through the neutral zone. We just have to build on it."
CBJ Standouts
Quick Recap
There was no shortage of offense in the first period as Columbus took a 3-2 lead out of the first period of play. The Lightning scored first and last in the period, bookending three straight goals by the Blue Jackets.
Tampa Bay started the scoring at 4:10 on the rush, as Werenski tripped over the linesman to give the Bolts a 3-on-1. Columbus backchecked well with Seth Jones breaking up a pass and Alexandre Texier tying up Victor Hedman, but the Tampa Bay defenseman got loose and found the puck, flipping a quick backhander past Elvis Merzlikins.
Columbus needed just 17 seconds to tie the score, though, on a goal that featured hard work from Cam Atkinson. The CBJ forward got behind the defense and was tied up as he drove to the net, drawing a delayed penalty, but there would be no need for that as Foligno followed Atkinson's shot and sent the rebound home past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 1-1.
The Blue Jackets then made it 2-1 just past the midway point as Grigorenko got on the board. The Russian forward won a puck battle along the right wall and dropped it to Kevin Stenlund, who fired a heavy shot on net with Gavrikov screening in front. Vasilevskiy couldn't hold the initial shot and Grigorenko skated into the crease to tap the rebound home at 10:03.
It then became a 3-1 game with 58.6 seconds to go in the period when Gavrikov scored this time. Liam Foudy made a nice play with the puck as the CBJ rookie pulled up along the right boards and picked out the right pass to Gavrikov as the defenseman slipped into the slot, and his wrister got by the glove of Vasilevskiy to double the lead.
But Tampa Bay earned a late power play in the period and took advantage as Ondrej Palat scored with 13.6 seconds to go in the frame to cut it to 3-2. Brayden Point picked out Palat at the back post behind Merzlikins and put it right on Palat's stick for an easy tap-in.
After that wild first period, the second period reverted to a more tight-checking game, with neither team scoring. Columbus might have had the best chance of the frame on the penalty kill, as Atkinson stole a puck and had a chance from in close, but he couldn't beat Vasilevskiy with his effort to sneak the puck between the goalie's legs.
Columbus got its insurance goal early in the third, though, as Werenski got on the board. A long shift in the offensive zone for the Blue Jackets started when Vasilevskiy denied Oliver Bjorkstrand on a breakaway, but Columbus kept cycling the puck around until it finally found the opening, as Texier spied Werenski cutting to the top of the left circle and the defenseman's shot got past the goalie far side.
With just over six minutes to play, Merzlikins kept it a two-goal game with his best stop of the game as he denied Point from point-blank range. A shot from the right point deflected right to the Tampa Bay center, but Merzlikins extended his left pad to make the save.
That was all the Jackets needed, as Robinson sealed things with an empty-net goal with 1:48 to go.
3 Takeaways
1. A cloud lifted: The Blue Jackets talked about the situation with Pierre-Luc Dubois not being a distraction in the early going, but the reality is when one of the team's best players wants out, it's going to have an impact. The Blue Jackets didn't play their best game through the first five contests of the year, and the situation with Dubois reached a critical mass Thursday night when he didn't leave the bench for the final 45 minutes plus of the game. "What I was most frustrated about is we had an opportunity as a team to just play a certain style and act a certain way, and I think Luc would be the first to admit he didn't have that mind-set that we needed him to have in order to have success coming out of the gate," Foligno said. "It's not on him. We all didn't play well, but that's what can happen. Now that it's behind us, I think we're looking forward to coming together as a team here and playing and being the team we envisioned." It's probably no coincidence the Blue Jackets played their best game of the year hours after the trade of Dubois that netted Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic from Winnipeg.
2. Goals, goals, goals: Four players got on the board for the first time this year. Some are usual offensive suspects -- Werenski, for example, and Grigorenko, who was brought over from Russia to add some offensive thrust. Gavrikov and Robinson, meanwhile, are not counted on for scoring but can add it. Either way, the fact that all four put points on the board is a good sign for a team that has been looking to become "unstuck" offensively, to borrow a term Tortorella has used. In just one night, Columbus went from 2.00 goals per game to 2.50, and some confidence should be created by this performance. "I think everyone says it's most important that we got the win tonight, but when you go five games to start the year off the scoresheet, for someone that is an offensive player, you kind of start to feel it a little bit," Werenski said. "Just to get that one was a sigh of relief, and hopefully it can jump-start me offensively."
3. Neutral zone improvement: The Blue Jackets were also better on the other side of the ice, particularly when it came to clamping down on Tampa Bay's transition game. The Bolts got the early goal on the rush, partly because Werenski and the linesman got mixed up together to spring the Lightning on the break, but weren't able to create anything else as the game went on. Per Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5, Columbus had the edge in expected goals -- a measure of shot quality and quantity -- of 1.84-1.42, which means the Jackets did a good job of preventing a dangerous Tampa team from creating much. "I just really liked the strucutre of our game tonight," Tortorella said. "We've been a team just lacking that structure in the middle of the ice, in the neutral zone. We foused on it with the video. It's been a big part of our meetings prior to the game. I thought we were much more concentrated on that part of the game."
Notable
Fourteen different Blue Jackets earned points in the game, with Robinson the only one to notch a multipoint effort (1-1-2). ... Merzlikins finished with 30 saves in his first win of the season, while Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots. ... Grigorenko's goal was hs first in the NHL since he was with the Colorado Avalanche on April 4, 2017 vs. Chicago. ... Stenlund and Nathan Gerbe each earned assists in their first game of the season. … Foligno has tallied 138 times with the Blue Jackets, third in franchise history, with the other 61 of his 199 goals coming in Ottawa. ... With an assist on the empty-net goal, Jones now has 199 career assists and 196 points as a Blue Jacket. ... With the assist, Texier has a 3-2-5 line in six games this year. … The Blue Jackets are now 2-0 on the season when giving up the first goal and 0-2-2 when scoring first. … The win was Columbus' first in the regular season vs. Tampa Bay since the 2016-17 season, ending a 0-5-3 stretch.
Roster Report
The Blue Jackets made two changes to the lineup, with Stenlund entering at center and Gerbe on the wing in place of Pierre-Luc Dubois (traded) and Emil Bemstrom (taxi squad), respectively. Defensemen Scott Harrington and Gabriel Carlsson remained scratched and Mikko Koivu continued to be out because of COVID protocols, though general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said he'd return Tuesday.
Up Next
Columbus is back in action Tuesday night when it hosts Florida at 7 p.m. in Nationwide Arena.