Blue Jackets at Lightning
The Columbus Blue Jackets are beginning to find their top form and can avenge one of four losses Saturday night when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning in a showdown between two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams. The Blue Jackets responded to their first losing streak of the season by winning four of five and produced a season high in goals Thursday in a 7-3 win at Florida.
“(Thursday) it was as close to an identity I like to see this team play, and that’s playing fast north-south and then getting under the hashmarks,” Columbus coach John Tortorella told reporters. “We did that more tonight than we’ve done all season long.” The Blue Jackets will be tested against Tampa Bay, which leads the league in points (22) and conquered Columbus 2-0 on Oct. 19 after being swept in the 2016-17 season series. The Lightning boast the top two scorers in the league with captain Steven Stamkos (24 points) and Nikita Kucherov (21) while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy tops the NHL with 10 wins, but they have dropped two of three after a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday. “We played loose,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We let them skate by us on occasions. We just can’t think it’s going to be a track meet every night and we’re going to skill our way out.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (9-4-0): Columbus got points from 14 different players in the win at Florida, including two goals each from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson while Boone Jenner scored once and set up two others. Tyler Motte scored in each of his first two games since being recalled and fellow forward Matt Calvert has posted three goals and three assists in a six-game span. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has won each of his last four starts and boasts a .938 save percentage in that span while left wing Artemi Panarin tops the team with 11 points, but just one came in the last four contests.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (10-2-2): Stamkos and Kucherov, who will play his 300th NHL game Saturday, were kept off the scoresheet in two of the last three contests - both losses - after gaining at least a point in each of the first 11 games. Right wing Yanni Gourde has made a big impression in his first full season in the NHL and posted six points in the last six games after scoring in each of the past two contests. Cooper switched up the lines for the first time this season on Thursday as Tyler Johnson centered Ryan Callahan and Chris Kunitz while Gabriel Dumont skated between Alex Killorn and J.T. Brown.
OVERTIME
1. Vasilevskiy, whose winning streak ended at nine Thursday, has at least a point in 10 straight contests and 11 of 12 this season.
2. Columbus RW Cam Atkinson (hip, illness) has missed the last two games and is not expected to rejoin the team Saturday.
3. The Lightning will honor their 2004 Stanley Cup championship team, coached by Tortorella, in a pre-game ceremony.