The Lightning finally string together back-to-back wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets to take a 3-1 series lead. This win comes from an aggressive game played by the Bolts, leading the Blue Jackets in hits, 34 to 25. Although outshot by the Jackets, the Lightning defence stayed disciplined and Andrei Vasilevskiy only allowed one goal on 29 shots.
The first period got off to a shaky start for the Lightning as Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the game’s opening minutes. However, head coach Jon Cooper and the Bolts would challenge the goal for an offside on the zone entry and the goal was called no good. Thanks to the Tampa Bay video coaches, Nigel Kirwan and Brian Garlock, for pointing this out to Cooper and keeping the game tied 0-0.
This, however, doesn’t bring much momentum to Tampa Bay as they get outshot 10 to seven in the game’s first period. This was a lackluster first 20 for the Lightning, consisting of sloppy passes and another early power play chance for Columbus. Luckily, Columbus’ power play this postseason has been nothing short of terrible, so Tampa killed that off and the period concluded with no score.
The Lightning came out of this period unscathed, but it was not a pretty sight going into the second. Columbus controlled the puck for the majority of the period and the Bolts had a few turnovers that could have been avoided with better passing. It is apparent that the ice was taking a beating from all of the hockey being played in the Eastern Conference Bubble.
With at least two games per day, this is the most hockey Scotiabank Arena has ever seen. Pucks were bouncing all over the ice and passing had to be near perfect because of this.
Period two was a much better period for both teams and contained all of the scoring for the matinee game. The Lightning came hot out of the locker room with Barclay Goodrow scoring his first ever goal as a Bolt. This goal came just 16 seconds in and was assisted by none other than Yanni Gourde and winger Blake Coleman. This third line for Tampa Bay had been the most impressive since the NHL restart and it’s great to see them finally being rewarded.
Shortly after, the Lightning went ahead and put another point on the board with some familiar faces on the ice. Yanni Gourde scored his second goal of the postseason assisted by Barclay Goodrow and Kevin Shattenkirk. Tampa Bay’s third line had shown up every shift of the playoffs so far; they always seem to be creating opportunities to score and were playing very physical on the boards.
Yanni Gourde has recently been compared to the Tasmanian Devil out on the ice by the Thunder Nation Facebook group, mainly because he always has his foot on the gas each time he is off the bench. Columbus responded quickly to this goal by Gourde, scoring a shifty goal of their own. Cam Atkinson found the back of the net on a four-on-four after a rebound from Pierre-Luc Dubois’ wrist shot bounced off of Atkinson and over Vasilevskiy.
The score would remain 2-1 for the rest of the game, but their were good signs from either team going into the third. This was Atkinson’s third goal of the postseason and he showed some life after missing games two and three of this first-round series. He was nearly absent in the 5 overtime loss against Tampa Bay, having no shots on goal.
Period three was a 20 minute game of keep away for Tampa as they worked to hold puck possession and keep the Blue Jackets shots to a minimum. Rather than going for plays in the offensive zone, the Bolts worked to kill time throughout this third period while only recording four shots on goal. They would hold the Blue Jackets to just eight shots and the period would end rather fruitless for Columbus.
The Blue Jackets then took a bench penalty for too many men as Joonas Korpisalo departed the net in the final minutes. The Bolts would use this power play to continue to control the puck and take the victory in game four. They’d defeat Columbus by a 2-1 final.
The three stars of the game were the goal scorers for each team; Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow and Blue Jackets right-winger Cam Atkinson. I believe Andrei Vasilevskiy deserves some credit for this win as well, stopping 28 of 29 shots from the Jackets. This confirms the “Big Cat’s” 20th playoff win with the Lightning, being just short of the franchise record of 21 wins held by both Ben Bishop and Nikolai Khabibulin.
The goaltending from both sides has been stellar this series with Andrei Vasilevskiy and Joonas Korpisalo both standing on their heads to make crucial saves to keep these games extremely close. Korpisalo had moments during the second period where he was making near-impossible saves as the Bolts fired back-to-back-to-back shots at the net.
Key takeaways moving forward in this series for the Bolts: continue to prioritize defence over offence. This has been a key factor to the Lightning’s success so far in this series. During last year’s sweep, the Bolts clearly had an offensive game plan, wanting to make flashy plays and trying to set up one-timers during the five-on-five.
This year, we have seen much more physical play from Tampa Bay with the help of the new additions to the roster. As for the offence, the Bolts must continue to make Korpisalo uncomfortable in his crease. This can happen in a number of ways, but taking away Korpisalo’s vision combined with shots from the blue line and rebounds have been the key to success so far.
If Tampa can continue to rattle Columbus and Korpisalo early on in games with in-front of the net presence, there are very little ways for Columbus to make a comeback in this series.
Hopefully, the Tampa Bay Lightning can finish this series in game five on Wednesday. This would then give them some much needed rest for round two. Puck drop is scheduled for 12:00pmET at Scotiabank Arena. The game is available for viewing on NBCSN, Fox Sports Sun and Fox Sports Ohio, meanwhile, it will be carried on Sportsnet Ontario ands TVA Sports. The game can also be heard on 970 WFLA and and 97.1 FM.