Merzlikins helps Blue Jackets hold off Lightning

TAMPA --Elvis Merzlikins made 37 saves, including 20 in the second period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets held off the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 3-1 win at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Oliver Bjorkstrand, David Savard and Cam Atkinson scored for the Blue Jackets (14-15-8), who were coming off back-to-back losses to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and Sunday.
"These kinds of games are going to help me go where I want to go, which is up," Merzlikins said. "We played much better. Like I said before, I think the great thing with the day off after the bad weekend was that we could clear our mind and change our mentality right away. But this is only one game. We haven't won anything. We have to keep focusing."
Mathieu Joseph scored, and Curtis McElhinney made 18 saves for the Lightning (24-9-2), who lost three straight games for the first time this season.
"If there was one issue to our game it's that we let the goalie see everything," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We were doing a lot of good things. The process was fine, we had our legs. We just didn't take eyes away. We had our looks, just tonight they didn't go in."
Bjorkstrand gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 10:49 of the second period with a redirection of a shot by Zach Werenski.
"It's a big two points," Bjorkstrand said. "Honestly, we're in a situation where we've got to win. We had more of a mindset of winning battles and simplifying things a little bit."

Savard made it 2-0 at 19:28 of the second with a one-timer from the high slot off a pass from Alexandre Texier, who split two Lightning defenders before making the play. It was Savard's first regular-season goal since March 30, 2019 (108 games).
"Definitely felt good, it's been a little while," Savard said. "It is what it is, and it was a big goal at the time. The guys were rooting for me to get one soon. It was a good feeling and a big goal to go up 2-0. It was a big win and we've got to do it again Thursday."
Joseph made it 2-1 at 4:12 of the third period when his redirection of Luke Schenn's shot deflected off the body of Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.
"It was a little better, it probably could've went our way tonight," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "Their goaltender played well. I thought he saw most of the shots and made the saves when he had to. We'll have to continue to work on our game and get better so we can bounce out of this little three-game skid."

Atkinson scored an empty-net goal to make it 3-1 at 18:29 after Nick Foligno stole the puck from Victor Hedman behind Tampa Bay's net.
"We were better, We're working on a way to play that will get us into some sort of identity," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "I think we took a step in the right direction. We struggled at times as far as some turnovers and allowing them to get on the attack. Elvis made some big saves for us. I think we did a pretty good job around the net after shots were taken. … So yeah, we found a way to win a hockey game."
Hedman said, "We created a lot of opportunities today and it's frustrating when you don't score, obviously. You're going to go through spurts when things aren't going to go your way. We just have to pick one another up. For us, we just can't get down on ourselves."
NOTES: Lightning defenseman Jan Rutta left the game at 15:01 of the second period with lower-body injury. Cooper did not have any update. ... Hedman had 10 shots on goal.