IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Second Season Starts Badly for Lightning

Ken Cross

April 11, 2019 at 9:05 pm.

Apr 10, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save as Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara (65) defends against Tampa Bay Lightning center Yanni Gourde (37) during the first period of game one of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Apr 10, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save as Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara (65) defends against Tampa Bay Lightning center Yanni Gourde (37) during the first period of game one of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Forget the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 62-16-4 record en route to the President’s Trophy. The NHL Playoffs are called the second season for a reason.

Wednesday night in Amalie Arena, there was a healthy reminder as the Columbus Blue Jackets scored three goals in the third period to battle back from a 3-0 deficit at the end of the first period to topple the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

“We played with a ton of emotion in the first period and the building was jumping,” said Lightning coach John Cooper. “We clearly had them on their heels and you build that lead which is what you want to do, and I think our mentality was we want to outscore them tonight instead of build the lead and shut them down.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning wasted little time giving the NHL and the rest of the sporting public what was supposedly going to be quick definition of why they won the President’s Trophy with 128 points, 30 ahead of their next closest challenger during the season.

The Lightning came out with aggression and a physical presence in scoring three goals in the first 12 shots as they immediately put goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets on their heels.

Just 4:12 into the game, the Lightning broke ground as Alex Killorn scored unassisted on the breakaway as he shoved the puck past the left blocker of Bobrovsky. Then Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde pushed Tampa Bay to that quick 3-0 lead with markers coming at 11:01 and 17:50 respectively.

Cirelli put back an Erik Cernak shot off the left side, while Jan Rutta fed Gourde for a slapshot between the circles.

“We got a good lesson in coming out of the first period and playing the way we wanted to play and then you get away from,” noted Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. “Sometimes, you can get away with that in the regular season, but playoff hockey, teams aren’t going to quit.”

The Blue Jackets fought back as they were able to stabilize and midway through the second period Nick Foligno collected an errant puck and scored on a breakaway to cut the Lightning lead to 3-1 after two periods.

Midway through the third period, the house started to collapse for Tampa Bay when the Blue Jackets’ David Savard cut the lead to 3-2 on a turnover in the Lightning zone as he went unassisted at 7:56. Then, 3:58 later Josh Anderson scored a short-handed goal to tie the game at 3-3.

Columbus defenseman Seth Jones delivered the knockout punch for the Blue Jackets at 14:05 with his power play goal that crafted the 4-3 come-from-behind victory. He fired his wrist shot past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy as it was his 12th game winner on 40 goals on the season.

“I think if we play like this we have a chance of winning and to be in every game, especially the way Bobrovsky played tonight,” commented Columbus defenseman Dennis Savard. “He was huge in key moments for us tonight, so we have just got to keep going for him.”

Meanwhile, Cooper thought the Lightning should have been more in defense mode with the 3-0 lead rather than looking to score the fourth goal right off the bat in the second period.

“We didn’t need to make it four because we weren’t really giving them anything,” explained Cooper. “When we did give them something, it was just wide open looks and breakaways and the irony of tonight’s game is our special teams have been so good this year and in the end the special teams let us down.”