The Tampa Bay Lightning weathered a strong push by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night at AMALIE Arena, winning 5-3 to match a season-best three-game winning streak.
Tampa Bay improved to 17-10-2 with the victory, which opened a three-game homestand that continues with a visit from the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
After building a 4-0 lead, the Blue Jackets scored three times in the third period to cut the Lightning advantage to a single goal before stops from goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and an empty-net goal from Brayden Point sealed the 5-3 win.
Tuesday’s win followed a four-game Western Conference road trip that saw the team finish 3-1-0.
“At the end of the day we got two points,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said following his first game back in the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. “Long road trip, to come home and get a win, that’s big.”
Luke Glendening kickstarted the scoring for Tampa Bay 3:21 after the opening face-off, scoring his second goal of the season on a redirection in the crease after a shot by defenseman Nick Perbix from the right point.
Lightning forward Nick Paul looked to further Tampa Bay’s lead on a short break, deking to the backhand before his shot hit the corner of the crossbar and stayed out of the net with four minutes left in the first period.
In the second period, Paul was all over the scoresheet.
Paul sent a whistling wrist shot through Columbus goalie Jet Greaves to make it 2-0 less than 90 seconds into period two. Paul then set up a pair of goals to give the home team a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes of play. His goal and two assists led the Lightning offense on Tuesday.
“Just play hockey, feel the puck,” Paul said of his approach to the second period. “When you try to think too much when you're playing, you start hesitating a little bit. And when you're feeling the game and you're just moving your feet and playing hard, good things happen.”
Paul’s first assist came when he dropped the puck to Jake Guentzel, who scored on his own rebound and extended his goal-scoring streak to seven games for a 3-0 lead 7:36 into the second period. Paul also had the primary assist on the 4-0 goal, when he fed Mitchell Chaffee in the bumper spot on a five-minute power play. Chaffee’s top-shelf bury, his sixth of the year, closed the scoring in the second period.
Paul called Guentzel a “super smart player” when asked about the first-year Bolt and his recent scoring streak.
“I think he's all-around a great player. He can skate, he's physical, he wins his battles, he makes great plays, he can shoot,” Paul said of Guentzel. “But I think his smarts are the biggest thing, smarts and communication. He's always in good areas and in soft areas for support. You get in trouble, you know he's always there, and yeah, he's playing really good.”
Columbus scored three straight goals in the third period, beginning with a Mikael Pyyhtia tally 7:23 into the final 20 minutes. Adam Fantilli scored 42 seconds later to make it a two-goal game, and a power-play goal from Cole Sillinger made it 4-3 with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Point’s 21st goal of the year found the empty cage with 2:09 remaining to close the game. Leading scorer Nikita Kucherov and Guentzel assisted on the play, one that extended Kucherov’s point streak to eight games.
“You got a four-goal cushion, they score three and that’s gotta be it,” Hedman said. “And I think we did a good job at the end there.”
The Lightning win came on a night the team celebrated head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan’s 2,000th professional hockey game with custom t-shirts and a video tribute in-game while also honoring goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for reaching 500 NHL games on the recent road trip.
Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the win, improving to 14-9-1 this season. Despite the late push by Columbus, the Lightning were happy with the final result.
Glendening said his line with Mikey Eyssimont and Zemgus Girgensons is playing with confidence right now, adding the team did what they had to in order to win.
“I think we just focused on defense and then we got some offense from that. Got a little closer than we would have liked at the end, but two points is two points.”
His coach shared a similar thought on the win.
“I'm not apologizing for winning, and that's what we're here to do,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Would I have liked it to be a little different look when you wake up in the morning and see the stat line? For sure, but we're gonna wake up tomorrow and we're gonna have two more points than we did tonight, so we'll take that.”
Ben’s Three Stars:
- Nick Paul, TBL (Goal, two assists)
- Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, assist)
- Luke Glendening, TBL (Goal)
