Lightning Suffer "Abnormally Bad" Loss to Columbus

Mike Smith
2 hours ago
3 min read

Lightning defenseman JJ Moser scored a goal with 18:20 of ice time against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports

By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

Conor Garland scored twice as the Columbus Blue Jackets dismantled the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night, 5-2. Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan had two assists each.

The loss was the sixth in seven games for the Bolts, who are mired in lackluster play since returning from the Olympic Break at the end of February. Tampa Bay is now four points behind the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres.

"Tonight was abnormally bad," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the loss afterwards. "I don't know what happened. It was a tough one."

Columbus came out of the gate hot in the first period, outshooting the Lightning 9-4. However, the Lightning ended the period with a 1-0 lead when Gage Goncalves scored his 8th goal of the season at the 13:38 mark of the opening period.

Goncalves tipped in a Victor Hedman shot past Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins. Despite having the lead, Tampa Bay was outperformed by Columbus in the first period and most of the game.

Columbus Takes Control in the Second Period

Columbus continued to push Tampa Bay to the breaking point in the second period until Ivan Provorov finally broke through. Provorov blasted a Denton Mateychuk pass from the point right past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 5:57 mark.

Tampa Bay never had a chance to recover. Thirty seconds later, Garland picked up his first goal of the night when Kent Johnson found him in the slot with a backhanded pass. Before the Lightning knew it, their lead was gone, and they found themselves down by one.

Kirill Marchenko added a third goal on the power play at 11:42 when he scored a one-timer from just inside the top of the left circle.

Lightning defenseman JJ Moser managed to cut the Columbus lead to 3-2 at 16:23 when he scored off Anthony Cirelli's faceoff draw.

Frustration Sets in for Lightning

With an opportunity to get back into the game starting the third period, Tampa Bay could not find any offensive rhythm. Columbus held the Lightning to only five shots in the final stanza.

"Our rhythm is not there, so our execution is clearly not there," Cooper commented. "It's been a roller coaster. If something goes poorly in the game, we compound it instead of rallying around and pulling ourselves out of it as we did for really long stretches at the beginning of the year."

For the game, the Bolts were outshot 31-17.

Garland picked up his second goal of the night at the 4:00 mark of the third and all but shut the door on Tampa Bay. Garland weaved through Declan Carlise and Charle-Edouard D'Astous and put a backhander around Vasilevskiy's right side.

Dante Fabbro added an empty net goal with 4:32 left to play to send Lightning fans streaming for the exit.

"We've put ourselves in a situation where we don't have any leeway or any room anymore," Moser lamented.

"Our execution was just off," Cirelli said. "That's a good team over there that can make plays with pucks, and we gave them too many chances to execute."

"If you don't clear the pucks eventually, you're going to get scored on," Moser added. "If they have possession long enough, eventually they're going to get their lucky bounces."

"We just have to be better at executing: blocking the shots; being in those lanes."

"There's probably a little frustration that sets in," Cooper said. "When things are going so well for you, there's probably times you forget what it took to get there. You come back from a prolonged break, and it's not quite going your way."

Despite the tough results over the past two weeks, Cooper remained confident in his team's ability to come through.

"There's tons of faith in the room," Cooper noted. "We're still in a playoff spot as of today. So it really doesn't matter how you get here. It just matters how we finish."

"So we're all good!"

Three Stars of the Game

Conor Garland, Columbus. Two goals at key moments of the game propelled the Blue Jackets to victory.
Zach Werenski, Columbus. Two assists: one on the game winner and one to help Garland close the door on Tampa Bay.
Sean Monahan, Columbus. Assists on both Garland goals.