Lightning at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets can win their first playoff series in franchise history after 18 years when they host the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round matchup Tuesday night. The Blue Jackets trailed 3-0 after the first period of Game 1, but have outscored the Lightning 12-2 in the last eight periods to take an astonishing 3-0 lead in the series.
“The job’s not done, but at the same time this is fun,” Columbus center Matt Duchene told reporters after scoring for the second straight game in a 3-1 victory Sunday. “This has been unbelievable, and we want to finish the job and leave no doubt. Obviously, we have a great opportunity Tuesday at home in front of our fans. I think these fans deserve that we get the job done here at home.” Only four of 190 teams in NHL history have come back to win a best-of-7 playoff series after dropping the first three games, but Tampa Bay is coming off a regular season in which it matched the league record with 62 victories. “We’ve won a lot of hockey games as a team,” Lightning forward Tyler Johnson told reporters after helping set up Sunday's goal. “We can definitely do it. If there’s a group that can, it’s us. We’ve just go to play the right way. Everyone’s got to step up. Everyone’s got to play a solid game, and we’ve got to make it a little bit harder.” Tampa Bay will have Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov back in the lineup after the right wing was suspended for Game 3, but coach Jon Cooper told reporters reigning Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman (upper body) is doubtful after missing the last contest.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CNBC, TVA, Sportsnet360; FS Sun (Tampa Bay), FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Tampa Bay finished the third period with a 17-8 edge in shots, creeping within 2-1 on Ondrej Palat’s goal, and captain Steven Stamkos told reporters: “If anything, maybe we found a recipe to break some of their structure there, but obviously it wasn’t enough.” More is needed from the team’s three 40-goal scorers - Kucherov, Stamkos and Brayden Point - as the trio has yet to make the scoresheet in the series. Rookie Erik Cernak tops the team with three points - all assists - and fellow defenseman Mikhail Sergachev has eight shots to share the team lead with Stamkos, who had none Sunday.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS: Sergei Bobrovsky played a big part in Columbus’ 7-1-0 finish to the regular season and has stopped 69 of the 71 shots he faced in the past eight periods. “You don’t win playoff games without your goalie, so I thought he stood really big in those 10, 12 minutes there when they turned it up,” coach John Tortorella told reporters of Sunday’s third period. “Bob doesn’t say anything. He just goes about his business. … We’re going to need him, because there’s going to be another push in Game 4.” Duchene has led the way for Columbus in the series, notching his first two postseason goals and three assists.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy, who led the league with 39 wins this season, was 6-2-0 with a .948 save percentage against the Blue Jackets coming into the series.
2. Columbus D Markus Nutivaara (upper body), who suffered the illegal hit that prompted Kucherov’s suspension, missed Game 3 and is questionable for Tuesday.
3. Lightning LW Alex Killorn, who has a team-best plus-2 rating, left Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury and his status is uncertain for Tuesday.