2019 Tampa Bay Lightning–Columbus Blue Jackets playoff series

Game 1:

After posting a fifth place finish the Metropolitan Division during the 2018-19 regular season, the Columbus Blue Jackets, who won more games than all but five teams in the NHL this season, began their playoff push Tuesday night in the second wild card position as they visited the Tampa Bay Lightning in game one of their best-of-seven series. The Lightning, President’s Trophy winners with the best record in the NHL over the course of the regular season, romped through the NHL en route to 62 wins (tying the NHL single-season record), including a 32-7-2 record at Amalie Arena. Led by Nikita Kucherov’s 128 points, the Lightning broke numerous scoring records over the course of the season. With the playoffs beginning, however, none of that matters. Being the first team to 16 wins is all that matters. Despite an 0-3-0 record against the Lightning in the regular season (while being outscored 17-3 in the process), Columbus boasts one of the better road records in the NHL and playmakers throughout the roster. Artemi Panarin broke the franchise record for points in a single season with 85; Cam Atkinson tied the franchise record for goals scored in a single season with 41; and Sergei Bobrovsky led the NHL with nine shutouts. Alexandre Texier remained in the lineup on the new look third line with Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand to start the game. Boone Jenner dropped to the fourth line, and Alex Wennberg remained out of the lineup. Sergei Bobrovsky got the start in net opposite Andre Vasilevskiy as both teams looked to start fast in the series. Here’s what happened. First Period The Jackets started on the front foot with a strong clearance from the defensive zone before Cam Atkinson faced a save and hold from Vasilevskiy for the first shot of the game. A turnover in the defensive zone to Steven Stamkos saw a look at Bobrovsky, but Seth Jones was able to deflect the puck wide before it ever saw the Columbus net. As the first penalty was called, Brandon Dubinsky dropped the gloves and went after Dan Girardi after a post-whistle hit from Girardi. After the scrum, Dubinsky and Girardi went to the box for roughing, while Girardi earned a second minor for an illegal check to the head, giving Columbus the first power play of the game. Of note on strategy - the instant the fourth line came onto the ice, the Lightning changed and put their first line on the ice. On a turnover from Seth Jones at the blue line, Tampa made Columbus pay. Jones missed the pass and Alex Killorn had a breakaway and beat Sergei Bobrovsky high glove side on the first Lightning shot of the game. Lightning goal (0-1): Killorn, unassisted, 4:12 (SH) Tampa killed the rest of the penalty with no trouble. Columbus had one shot, Tampa had one goal. The Lightning, tied for third in the NHL with 12 shorthanded goals on the season, made the Jackets pay for sloppy play. Columbus appeared content to get into a track meet with Tampa early, a frantic pace to the game but no defensive discipline from the Jackets. The Jackets needed the first television timeout to hopefully settle down and get a foot into the game without skating around chasing the Lightning. Columbus’ fourth line held possession in the Lightning zone for an extended shift out of the timeout, forcing a strong blocker save from Vasilevskiy. After the second TV timeout, Tampa made Columbus pay for a failed clearance. A mistake from Ryan Dzingel, who failed to clear the puck, saw the puck bounce to Erik Cernak. Cernak let a shot fly at Bobrovsky who failed to control the rebound and it bounced right to Anthony Cirelli, who made no mistake burying it. Lightning goal (2-0): Cirelli from Cernak and Miller, 11:01 Columbus struggled again to clear the puck from their own zone, forcing Seth Jones to ice it with 6:53 remaining. Markus Nutivaara saved a third goal with 5:20 remaining as a shot from the point trickled through Sergei Bobrovsky but Nutivaara swept it away from the blue paint. A huge moment for the Finnish youngster. On a turnover, Alex Texier saw his shot turned aside by Vasilevskiy with 4:17 remaining in the first period. Sergei Bobrovsky saw a shot with 2:30 remaining and again failed to control the puck with his glove - a terrible start to the game for Bobrovsky. With Panarin failing to control the puck, the puck went to Mikhail Sergachev and was deflected by Yanni Gourde in front and into the net. Lightning goal (0-3): Gourde from Sergachev and Ruuta, 2:10 To add insult to injury, David Savard took an interference penalty with 32.8 seconds remaining in the period, giving the best power play in the game a chance to make it 4-0. Tampa dominated the second half of the period to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Tampa also led in shots 13-6. Columbus at least got to intermission without giving up a power play goal. Small victories.

Second Period The Lightning opened the period with 1:28 of penalty time to kill. On a cross ice pass, Ondrej Palat found Stamkos who found a streaking Kucherov, but Bobrovsky made his first big save of the game to keep the deficit at three. Columbus managed to kill the penalty after Nikita Kucherov hit the post as well on the power play. The line blender kicked in hard after the penalty ended. The new line of Dzingel-Duchene-Atkinson had a solid shift in the Lightning zone with clean passing, forcing a big scramble in front of Vasilevskiy. Bjorkstrand moved up to play with Panarin and Dubois. Panarin walked through the Tampa defense but fired wide of the net with four minutes gone in the period. Columbus managed to slow the game down, making simple passes tape to tape while playing stout in the neutral zone - the strategy they should have employed to start the game, and it helped them to get a foot back into the game. Unfortunately, they could not find a way to beat Vasilevskiy. After a bad pass from Ryan McDonagh, Nick Foligno grabbed the puck on a breakaway and buried his sevent playoff goal at 9:15. Blue Jackets goal (1-3): Foligno, unassisted, 9:15.

After the second TV timeout, Panarin had a break of his own, but was denied by Vasilevskiy. Columbus found their footing in the second period and got back to playing Blue Jackets hockey, forcing Tampa to play defense while not allowing the Lightning to get out in transition. A turnover from Kucherov saw a Dubinsky effort get deflected wide of the net with seven minutes to go in the period. Matt Duchene forced a kick save from Vasilevskiy that went to the far post, but Columbus had no one there to take advantage of the rebound and a gaping net with 5:00 remaining in the period. The fourth line, with under three minutes to go, forced another solid shift for the visitors and another scrum broke out behind Vasilevskiy after Jenner bumped the Lightning goaltender. As the second period drew to a close, the Lightning forced several anxious moments in front of Bobrovsky as Killorn and Cirelli were denied by the Columbus netminder. The period ended with Columbus trailing 3-1 on the scoreboard and 22-17 on the shot counter.

Third Period

Columbus opened the first period by attacking the Lightning - Dubois saw a shot saved from the short side and a puck was loose in front of Vasilevskiy, but no one was home to bury it. Sergei Bobrovsky made a save on Steven Stamkos with just over two minutes gone in the third period as he stared down Stamkos and Kucherov after a long feed to Kucherov split the pairing of Scott Harrington and Dean Kukan. Brandon Dubinsky took a David Savard shot low in the ankle at the 4 minute mark and was in difficulty getting to the bench. The Jackets got sloppy with the puck as the Lightning turned up the pressure as the first five minutes elapsed in the third period. The Lightning were able to take advantage of several Jackets turnovers and start odd man rushes up the ice, but the defense and Sergei Bobrovsky were able to keep the deficit at two as the teams hit the first TV timeout of the third period with 13:53 remaining. Victor Hedman fired a shot wide of an extremely screened Sergei Bobrovsky with 12:30 game. On the ensuing rush, David Savard of all people (!) jumped on a turnover to beat Hedman and Vasilevskiy and cut the deficit to one with his first playoff goal with 7:56 gone in the first.