History made: Blue Jackets swept Tampa Bay with Game 4 win

With Fox Sports Ohio broadcasting the Blue Jackets' first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lighting in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs -- the clinching Game 4 will be shown tonight at 8 p.m. -- BlueJackets.com is taking a look back at each game of the series. Each story will include a recap of the game, Jackets Insider Jeff Svoboda's take on what it meant, and fans' memories from the contest.

Going into Game 4, history beckoned the Blue Jackets.

Yet it still felt like there was plenty of pressure on Columbus despite the 3-0 series lead.

This was a huge game, especially with Tampa Bay having the chance to take the series back to its home ice for Game 5 with a win. It was easy to see how things could go from there - if the Lightning could win Game 4, then take Game 5 at home, it would put a lot of pressure on the Blue Jackets back in Columbus for Game 6.

In other words, nothing was yet in the bag. Columbus needed to keep the pedal to the metal and do everything it could to capture Game 4.

And that's exactly what happened. As Nationwide Arena nearly shook off its moorings, Columbus took an early lead, fended off a Tampa Bay charge and then closed out the series, capturing a 7-3 win that cemented Jackets fever in the capital city.

How it happened:Presented with a historic opportunity, the Blue Jackets jumped on Tampa Bay early, and in the process nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.

Columbus went on the power play 45 seconds into the game and took advantage, as rookie Alexandre Texier stepped into a shot from the top of the left circle and blew it past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it a 1-0 game with the fifth power-play goal of the series for the CBJ.

Just over a minute later, it was 2-0. Adam Clendening spotted Oliver Bjorkstrand open at the back door, and Bjorkstrand's shot went just wide, but Pierre-Luc Dubois grabbed it off the back boards and tucked it home at the other post before Vasilevskiy could recover.

It was a dream start for the Blue Jackets, but two blows could have stunted the CBJ momentum as the period went on. First, Steven Stamkos got loose in front and scored near the midway point to make it a 2-1 game, as Stamkos and eventual league MVP Nikita Kucherov got on the board with their first points of the series.

Later in the period, it appeared the Blue Jackets scored another goal on the power play as Cam Atkinson tallied on a rebound, but the Lightning challenged for offside and it was upheld to keep it a one-goal game.

But Columbus shrugged it the adversity just as it had all series and got another goal early in the second, as Seth Jones found time at the top of the right circle and ripped a quick slap shot past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1.

Tampa Bay rallied from there and tied the score with 2:08 left in the period with a pair of goals about five minutes apart. First, Cedric Paquette tipped a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky from in front, then Brayden Point made a nice move on the power play to get in alone and roof one over the Blue Jackets goalie to make it a 3-3 game.

But just 54 seconds later, Columbus had the lead for good. With the Blue Jackets skating with six players because of a delayed penalty, a nice passing play went from Clendening to Artemi Panarin across to Dubois, whose centering pass went off Scott Harrington in front and sat in the crease for Bjorkstrand to jam past the down-and-out Vasilevskiy for what would stand as the series-winning goal.

Columbus absorbed pressure from the Bolts throughout the final period, with Bobrovsky making a fantastic stop on Point in front and also denying Paquette as time ticked down.

On the bench, Blue Jackets players were doing everything they could to chip in to hold the lead.

"I think everyone was looking back at Torts," captain Nick Foligno said about the third period. "He probably hated us because we wanted to get over the boards and play. You don't want to be sitting there. It's worse watching, trust me."

Finally came the empty netters, each one upping the volume in Nationwide Arena. First, it was Panarin, who followed up Josh Anderson's effort to score and make it a 5-3 game. Texier and Duchene followed to put the sweep in the bag.

"I've been here a long time," Atkinson said afterward. "It was only a matter of time before we got into this position. And like I said, we're not done yet. … Everybody contributed the whole series, and that's huge for us. Huge for the confidence. Everyone is feeling good for themselves, and we're going to need that in the second round."

"Obviously I'm thrilled for the organization, for the McConnell family, for all the people that were here day one, for the fans that were here day one, for the guys in this room who have been through the thick and thin and all of that and for the guys that we've been through playoff series where we've gotten our hearts broken," Foligno added. "There's a lot of emotion."

BACK IN TIME (stories from during the playoff run): Jackets played for each other during sweep | Columbus brushed aside adversity, too | Facts, figures from CBJ sweep | Fans dressed for success | CBJ wanted more after series| It was time to believe

Jeff's take: What can you say? Finally.

After nearly 20 years of disappointment, the Blue Jackets did what they had to do to win a series. To do it against Tampa Bay, the Presidents' Trophy winner and odds-on favorite to not just beat Columbus but win the Stanley Cup, was extra satisfying.

It was the storybook sports story that came true, that rare occurrence where everything lined up for a franchise that had gone through so many near misses and what-ifs. For seven days in April, a team came together and played nearly perfect hockey, doing it for one another, all 18 skaters and a goalie working in perfect sync to accomplish something great.

There are so many memories from that game, but here are the ones that stick out for me, in chronological order.

1. I don't think I've ever heard Nationwide Arena louder than when Dubois scored the second goal early in the game. My friend Aron Augustitus, who was a Blue Jackets intern last year and now works in hockey operations, was in the locker room during the game and says the room physically shook from the noise when Bjorkstrand scored the winner, so maybe that was louder. Either way, no one who was there will ever forget the raw emotion and the sights and sounds from the evening. For me, that start will always live on, though - for a team that had come close to so many things only to fall short, to get off to an early lead and calm any jitters for either themselves or the fan base was so huge. And it manifested itself in a symphony of noise in Nationwide.

2. As fans celebrated the stream of empty-net goals to cap the victory, I was showered at one point by a deluge of popcorn that landed on myself and my laptop. Someone in the stands in the celebration must have thrown a box of it in the air and it landed on me on the press box. I wasn't going to complain.

3. The path the media takes from the press box to postgame interviews goes by the Zamboni tunnel as we head toward the locker room area. At the moment I was walking by the tunnel after the game, you could hear the Blue Jackets players addressing the crowd in their on-ice interviews with Jody Shelley, and I couldn't help but head into the tunnel to hear them. As Nationwide Arena roared during each address, a fan base and a team united together ... it's not something you'll ever forget.

4. Lastly, the energy in the Arena District that night for the postgame celebration was palpable. What a night.

I could keep going, but you, the fans, had plenty to say about this one. I'll let you take over from here.

The fans say

On Twitter, I asked Blue Jackets fans their memories from the Tampa series, with more than 70 emailing me. Their memories of Game 4 -- some of which have been edited for clarity and grammar - follow.

Doug Ratcliff

Game 4, Panarin scores the goal that puts us up 5-3 and my wife and I jump off of the couch and we're jumping up and down. Our dog starts jumping with us and we were laughing and crying at the same time.

After Game 4, I called my son. We were at the very first home game, we were there when we got swept by Detroit, we were at the draft, the All-Star Game and many other games throughout the years. CBJ hockey has always been our thing, we even have matching CBJ tattoos. To finally experience a playoff series win, a sweep, against one of the best teams ever (statistically) is something we'll never forget. I'm in North Carolina now and he is in New Orleans but they will always be our Columbus Blue Jackets! Even as I typed that, I heard it in Greg Murray's voice.

Emily Essex

I wanted to share my story about Game 4. I'm from Pataskala, Ohio, but I go to the University of Kentucky, so I usually only get the chance to go to games when I'm home from school. I had also never been to a playoff game before last year. After we won the first 3 games, I had the idea of going to Game 4 but knew it was the middle of the week, I had classes and responsibilities, and we might have even ended up losing. The day of the game I was still thinking about it and realized how upset I would have been if I missed it. So I bought a ticket on Stubhub, went to my afternoon class, and jumped in my car to make the three-hour drive to Columbus. I listened to the first period on the radio and made it there by the first intermission. My heart was absolutely racing the entire game and I've never been in an atmosphere that could compare. Experiencing the moment we got the empty net goal is something I'll never forget and talk to people about every chance I get. I'm so glad I was lucky enough to go and I dropped everything to do it. And then I drove back to school, and got up for my 9 a.m. class the next morning.

Ed Gifford

As a proud grandfather, my memory is seeing my grandson Sean Gifford standing on the ice next to Leo as the Game 4 Military Honoree. Can't get any better than that!!!! It was a night of immeasurable pride on many levels.

Maggie Governale

My now-boyfriend and I went on one of our first dates to the final game of the series. I had bought the tickets ahead of time, before the series even started. We had originally bonded over our mutual love of hockey. I've been watching it since I was little, and he's been playing since he was little and had coached Ohio State's men's club team.

The entire game I fought back tears because of how emotional it was to see my hometown team accomplish something so big. He kept poking fun at me but I could see how much he enjoyed the energy of that game. When the horn sounded at the end of the game, I burst into tears and he scooped me into a hug. Needless to say, we're happily together a year later and have a panoramic picture of that night hanging in our new apartment.

That game holds a very special place in our hearts!

Jim Russell

My dad is a season ticket holder, so we had tickets to Game 4. I wondered for years what it would be like to celebrate a CBJ series win in person together as father and son after attending so many games together over the years. I've never been part of a crowd at a sporting event that literally willed a team to a win, but it happened that night. I got to experience a special night with my dad that I'll have for the rest of my life. Sitting on the patio at Gordon Biersch after the game, enjoying some beers with my dad and friends and listening to the chants of "C-B-J" outside the arena capped off an unforgettable night.

Corbin Smith

Just the thought of being in the arena for Game 4 still gives me chills to this day. To have followed the team all these years through thick and thin, seeing Stinger raise that "Round 2" banner up as Nationwide erupted is a memory I will never forget. Words cannot describe the emotions I felt that night leaving the arena. That week was truly special and I will remember it forever.

Ashley Houston

I am a half season ticket holder and I originally only had tickets to Game 3. However, after that game on the drive home from Nationwide Arena, my mom and I knew we HAD to be at Game 4. That being said, Game 4 was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I have never heard the crowd cheer so loud and the building truly felt like it was rocking. I can only imagine what the team was feeling because the fans left that night feeling like a million bucks.

Samantha McDonald

Last spring I was a senior at Dublin Jerome where my twin sister Camille and I had converted most of our friends to Jackets fans. On the day of the final game of the series, our school had a track meet in Grove City. The whole meet, there was an obvious buzz surrounding what was happening over at Nationwide. Athletes from both teams streamed the game between their events, and the coaches kept asking for the score. Track meets tend to last about nine years, and by the time we were heading back to Jerome, the third period was just starting. So naturally, the entire bus of sweaty, tired runners watched the games on their tiny phone screens, as the old bus driver excitedly asked for updates. I would have to guess only about half of us understood the rules of hockey, but it didn't matter in the slightest. I can confidently say celebrating the sweep with my friends, teammates and coaches in the Jerome parking lot, while FaceTiming my dad who was in DC on a work trip, is one of my favorite memories from high school.

Joseph Ferraro

I had no ticket and had to work. I went in Monday night and put in for vacation and bought the single ticket on blind faith. I got the night off approved never sat down the entire Game 4. A kid about 13 was there with his mom and once he saw me going nuts, he felt like he had a blank check. His mom just threw her hands up. I wasn't profane, just loud. The feeling as time ticked down and we piled on the empty netters was 20 years of frustration being released! The banner that said second round was raised right behind. Epic time say the least. It was probably pretty close to an hour before I finally left.

Claire Ziegler (from New Zealand)

The day of Game 4 I had a minor surgery scheduled. So there I was, sitting on a hospital bed listening to the radio call, and during the first period, right after Tampa scored they come in to check my blood pressure and got very concerned about what it was reading. I had to try to explain to the very confused nurses that no, I wasn't worried about the surgery, I was freaking out about an ice hockey game on the other side of the world. I wound up going under the anaesthetic right as period two was ending, and my first question on waking up again was, "Can I please have my phone right now?" I've never been so relieved in my life as to tune in just as Bob McElligott was narrating the handshake line!

Nick Immell

I wore the same outfit and walked the same lap between each period for home games. Bjorkstrand's goal at the end of the second in Game 4 was perhaps the biggest goal in franchise history. Tampa Bay was in it, had the momentum and if CBJ didn't win in four, I don't if they win at all.

The optimistic tension in the building between the second and third period of Game 4 was something I'd not experienced. 20 minutes from pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NHL history and advancing for the first time in franchise history. History was at stake and everyone knew it.

I remember the Panarin empty netter. Jumping up and down that whole sequence holding onto my dad and the building releasing all its tension at once, beer in the air, strangers hugging strangers.

Matt Ianzito

When it looked we were going to go into the second intermission tied and lost the momentum, then Bjorkstrand scored, it was the first time in the series I let myself think we were actually gonna pull this off. The arena felt like it was going to explode! It was so exciting!

Howard Rudolph

The empty netters were glorious, and I think I cried on both. But the Texier goal in Game 4 set the tone. The place exploded and you instantly felt like, 'OMG this is going to happen.' I get chills typing this. I'll never forget how it felt being at those two games.

Chris Vail

I was so fired up, I just went down to Nationwide Arena to hang around outside during Game 4 even though I didn't have tickets. It was a nice evening weather-wise and I sat on a bench and watched on the giant outdoor screen. Made some new friends, did a lot of cheering, then waited for the fans who were inside to come out so we could high-five.

It was wild when fans finally did come out. Sheer pandemonium among all of us. No one wanted it to end. I'll never forget two guys with brooms, sweeping their way through the crowd. All-time great sports memory!

Someone texted me a screenshot from their TV of me watching the game intently (and intensely). Don't know how they got it.

Amanda Gillespie

I remember starting to cry as seconds rolled down in Game 4. Couldn't hide it ... didnt care. But I do remember looking around the entire arena to try to take it all in as it happened. I still have that mental image. Still get checked up thinking about it!

Raymond Finnegan

It was in the final two minutes of Game 4 where Panarin scored followed by Texier, which was about 10 seconds later off the game clock. It had to be 20 minutes; the noise inside nationwide was beautifully deafening. I was hugging and kissing my girlfriend on the cheek and the cheering just continued and even in the halls of Nationwide Arena as we left, you felt the echoes vibrating throughout "CBJ! CBJ! CBJ!" Just watched those highlights … it gets the adrenaline flowing again.

Cameron Koffel

It is walking out of Nationwide after Game 4 and hearing the constant screaming and shouting. Everyone is in disbelief that the Blue Jackets, a team that barley squeaked into the playoffs, just won their first playoff series, at home, and against the Presidents' Trophy winners. It was insanity and everyone was doing the "Wooooo!" I couldn't hear my buddy next to me!

Richard Montesi

My biggest memory is the emotion I felt once Panarin scored that fifth goal to all but ensure the series was wrapped up. I knew I would be excited, but I didn't expect the wave of emotion to bubble to the surface in the moment. I had to walk upstairs to be alone as I admittedly got a little misty-eyed believing a different era in CBJ hockey had arrived. I had a flashback of the 2011-12 season when the CBJ lost to Philly 9-2 in their barn and remember the dejection I felt in early winter that another season was all but over. Regardless of the outcome of the Boston series or the guys that left via free agency, it will always be a special moment for me.