"It's so deceptive. When you're playing the PK there, you don't really know what he's going to do. You get in the shot lane and then, next thing you know, my stick's open and he slides it right across without even looking. Special player."
Paul, who scored 16 goals in 80 games between Ottawa and Tampa Bay last season, is already up to 15 goals through just 39 contests after signing a seven-year contract extension with the Lightning over the summer. The 6-foot-3 forward continues to be big in so many different areas for the Bolts this season, whether it's killing penalties, blocking shots, winning faceoffs or scoring with the man advantage.
Starting the second period with a 2-0 lead, the Bolts didn't have the same kind of urgency the team had to start the game, which maybe is to be expected after finishing the first up by two and holding a 21-6 shot advantage.
But Columbus took advantage and made it a 2-1 game when Gavin Bayreuther fired a shot from the point that deflected off a leg in front and got past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 12:56 left in the second.
As it felt like the Jackets were starting to gain some momentum, Vladislav Namestnikov gave Tampa Bay a much-needed boost with his third goal of the season when he collected the puck in the neutral zone and flew into the Columbus end on a breakaway before showcasing some soft hands with a move to the backhand that beat Merzlikins and put the Bolts back up by two with 9:35 left in the second.
"It feels good," said Namestnikov. "Goals haven't come easy this year, but you've got to take the opportunity and I got one there on the breakaway.
"I just saw I had a clear lane and I saw he was kind of out of position, so I took it to the backhand and had some room there."
That goal took the game to the second intermission with the Lightning leading 3-1 and holding a 33-13 shot advantage.
"I thought Vladdy's goal was huge," said Cooper. "We had that 2-0 lead, they scored and that was soon after where he gave us that 3-1 lead. Big goal at a big time."
Columbus got back within one at the 4:35 mark of the third period when Tim Berni was left all alone in front and got a clean look at the goal before making it a 3-2 game.
"We left the zone early and we left probably the juiciest part of the ice wide open," Cooper said. "I think if we could do that one over again, guys would play it differently."
In a time where Cooper would like to see his team defend better and have more attention to detail in their own zone, this was one of a couple slip-ups that occurred, particularly in the third period. Defending will undoubtedly continue to be a focal point as the team moves forward, but fortunately for the Bolts, the offense came through and carried the load en route to the victory.