TBL@CBJ: Stamkos buries a wrister for PPG

COLUMBUS --Steven Stamkos scored for the Tampa Bay Lightning before leaving with an injury in a 6-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

"If there's anything, we'll fill you in tomorrow, but not right now," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Stamkos, who left the game at 1:46 of the third period.
Yanni Gourde had four assists, and Ryan McDonagh scored twice for the Lightning (27-11-2), who had lost two straight. Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman each scored three points, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
Jack Roslovic scored and had two assists for the Blue Jackets (15-19-8), who are 2-7-1 in their past 10 games. Columbus defeated Tampa Bay 4-2 here Tuesday.
"I don't think we played a bad game," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "We developed quite a bit on offense and I saw some really good things from certain players."

TBL@CBJ: Coleman buries opening goal on the rush

Coleman scored for a 1-0 lead 58 seconds into the first period.
"It was huge to get that first goal," Gourde said. "It's hard to chase the game. It definitely was a key moment in the game."
Stamkos scored his first goal in eight games 12 seconds into a power-play at 4:41 for a 2-0 lead. He had not scored since March 23 at the Dallas Stars.
Goodrow increased the lead to 3-0 at 5:41. Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo was pulled for Elvis Merzlikins after making three saves on six shots. Merzlikins made 21 saves.
"We've got to start better, honestly, and we just lose a couple of those odd-man rushes," Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said. "It's impossible for us to start like that."
Michael Del Zotto cut the lead to 3-1 at 17:21 before McDonagh made it 4-1 at 19:59.
"I'm sure, maybe it's a little deflating for them," McDonagh said. "It gave us some momentum going into the second period."
Ross Colton scored for a 5-1 lead at 4:54 of the second period. The rookie forward has scored three of his six goals this season against the Blue Jackets in four games.
Roslovic made it 5-2 at 17:08 before McDonagh scored his second of the game for a 6-2 lead at 18:56.
Zach Werenski made it 6-3 at 10:41 of the third period, and Max Domi scored at 19:14 for the 6-4 final.
"The six goals feel good, but I think if you look at this game, when we look at the whole picture, we're not really happy with the four goals against," McDonagh said.

TBL@CBJ: Werenski slides puck past Vasilevskiy

Columbus defenseman David Savard was scratched for precautionary reasons with the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday. Savard and forward Cam Atkinson are the longest tenured Blue Jackets, each made his NHL debut on Oct. 7, 2011.
"He's probably the heart and soul of the back end, to be honest with you," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said of Savard. "It is what it is. It's the reality of the situation. It [stinks]. You can lose some good friends, it's the ramifications of a (losing) season like this one."
NOTES:The Lightning had not scored more than three goals in their previous eight games. … Stamkos leads Tampa Bay with 10 power-play goals. The Lightning were 1-for-18 on the power-play in their previous seven games. … Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak returned after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. He was minus-1 in 22:10. … Columbus forward Stefan Matteau replaced forward Boone Jenner, who is out for six weeks with a broken finger. Matteau had two hits in 6:54.

McDonagh, Gourde propel Lightning over Blue Jackets