Blue Jackets at Lightning
The Columbus Blue Jackets have hit a bump in the road since their historic 16-game winning streak and look to turn things around Friday, when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blue Jackets fell to 1-3-0 since the run after Tuesday’s 5-3 loss at Carolina but will try for a three-game sweep against the desperate Lightning, who will retire the No. 26 of Martin St. Louis in a ceremony before the contest.
Columbus hopes to have Sergei Bobrovsky (26-6-2, .931 save percentage) back in net after the All-Star missed the last game due to illness, but it must clean up some other issues as well. “I think we need a ‘reset’ as far as some of the grind of the game,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told the Columbus Dispatch. “You score some goals, you have a little scrutiny as far as winning, and you forget about the nuts and bolts.” Tampa Bay was able to snap a four-game losing streak Thursday with a 4-2 victory over Buffalo as Ben Bishop returned to the lineup and turned aside 24 shots. The Lightning recorded a pair of power-play goals for the third time in their last six games and are 8-for-25 with the man advantage in that span.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, TVA, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (28-8-4): Leading scorer Cam Atkinson reached the 20-goal plateau for the fourth consecutive season, joining Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger as the only players in franchise history to accomplish the feat. The league’s leading power play (25.8 percent) has contributed to the recent slide by converting just once in 14 opportunities over the last four contests. Brandon Saad is second on the team with 15 goals and needs two for 100 in his career while Nick Foligno and Alexander Wennberg have notched 35 points apiece – five behind Atkinson for the club lead.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (20-19-4): Ondrej Palat registered a pair of goals and an assist in the victory on Thursday after going three games without a point, while leading scorer Nikita Kucherov (40 points) also tallied. In addition to Bishop, Tampa Bay welcomed back Brian Boyle (four games) and defenseman Brayden Coburn (two) to the lineup Thursday. Blue-liner Victor Hedman notched an assist against Buffalo, pushing his total to seven in the last six games, and Jonathan Drouin has collected 20 points in his last 18 contests.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis is Tampa Bay’s all-time leading scorer with 953 points in 972 games, winning the Stanley Cup in 2004 with Tortorella as the team's coach.
2. The Blue Jackets have been outscored 7-0 in the third period over their last four contests, posting their only win in that stretch in overtime.
3. Tampa Bay C Vladislav Namestnikov has registered three points and a plus-4 rating over his last three contests.