IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Blue Jackets One Win Away From Historic Sweep

Ken Cross

April 15, 2019 at 11:30 am.

Apr 12, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin (9) scores a goal during the third period of game two of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Apr 12, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin (9) scores a goal during the third period of game two of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one game from history – a dubious addition to the annals of NHL lore – after the Columbia Blue Jackets dismissed Tampa Bay 3-1 on Sunday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Once again the Lightning offense was throttled until the third period when Ondrej Palat scored at 4:40 to push Columbus and cut the Blue Jackets’ lead to 2-1.

The mystery of where leading scorers Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov are offensively remains a mystery as none of the three have scored even one point in a series that appeared to be a stepping stone to the NHL quarterfinals for the Lightning before the NHL Playoffs started.

Kucherov was suspended for Game 3 due to his boarding penalty on Marcus Nutivaara in Friday night’s Game 2.

“They’re defending well,” said Stamkos. “We’re not getting any opportunities. We pushed hard in the third period hoping that at least we’d get one power play there after we got that goal. To have no power plays in a game is pretty surprising.”

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had another strong game for the Lightning as he saved 27 of 29 shots.  The Blue Jackets’ third goal was an empty-netter for the 3-1 lead.

Coming back from a 3-0 deficit in any sport is a near impossible task as it has only been done three times in NHL history and has never happened in NBA history.

However, the President’s Trophy-winning Lightning are the one team that you might bet on in this scenario based on their offensive weaponry and fire power. They led the NHL at 3.89 goals per game.

“I thought we battled,” noted coach Jon Cooper after Game 3. “We weathered that first storm we knew they’d have in the first period. But after that, especially in the third period, we carried play. Things that have gone in this year just haven’t gone in.”

Game 2 Redux:

Columbus has frustrated Tampa Bay throughout this series by taking away the speed in the middle of the ice and funneling this record-setting team to the outside with a relentless defense that picked up where it left off at the end of the third period in Game 2 last Wednesday night.

“Now we have some adversity and teams face it all the time and they face it in little pieces and this is a five-alarm fire,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper after that loss. “But it’s adversity and sometimes that’s good, sometimes you have to go through stuff like this. We’ll see how we respond.”

Columbus scored three goals in the third period to shock the Lightning, 4-3, on Wednesday and the Jackets picked up where they left off some 5:15 into Game 2. Center Matt Duchene reeled in a puck on a Lightning turnover in it’s on zone. He then fed Cam Atkinson who tapped the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for the quick 1-0 lead.

“It’s tough to give up a goal early for sure, but there’s a lot of game left at that point,” commented Lightning center Brayden Point. “I thought they played well, but there’s nothing for us to do now but get ready for the next one.”

Duchene had a huge evening with four points as he had three assists sandwiched around his first NHL Playoffs goal off the power play at 1:28 in the second period which game the Blue Jackets a 3-0 lead.

He assisted the Jackets’ first power-play goal which ended in Zach Werenski’s first goal of the evening at 11:44 in the first. Werenski took the draw and pushed a wrist shot by Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 advantage.

“I’ve waited awhile to get another shot at this, and I know a lot of work has been put in to get back to this point and it’s just fun to get the results we want in those first two games,” said Duchene.

The special teams units of the Lightning have been a huge problem in the all three games as Columbus has had two power-play goals, while the Lightning was 0-for-5 on the power play and then 0-for-1 shorthanded.

 

 

 

ALL  |  NFL  |  College Football  |  MLB  |  NBA