Going into this series, fans of both Columbus and Tampa Bay had one thing on their minds; the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2019 when the Blue Jackets stunned the President’s Cup winner and record setting Tampa Bay Lightning. With all the offensive power on the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was a complete shock to the hockey world when they were outscored 19-8 in a four-game sweep. However, this year’s matchup looked much different.
Tampa Bay made some roster changes, picking up Barclay Goodrow from the San Jose Sharks, Zach Bogosian from free agency, Blake Coleman from the Devils and Pat Maroon from last year’s Stanley Cup champs, the St. Louis Blues. These changes bring the Bolts some much needed grit and size that they have been lacking in the previous year’s playoff runs.
The Blue Jackets also made many roster changes, mainly as a result of cap space. They lose one of their best forwards, Artemi Panarin, to the New York Rangers and their star goalie from last year’s playoff run, Sergei Bobrovsky, to that other team in Florida. These changes create an entirely new series for both teams, and again, the Lightning are the favoured team to win.
The Blue Jackets are coming off of a five-game series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which also had some thrilling comeback wins respectively, but in the end, the Jackets’ defence smothered the star forwards of the Maple Leafs.
When asked about last year’s playoff upset against Tampa Bay, defensemen, Seth Jones stated, “We aren’t gonna compare this year and last year, it’s two different teams and two different series.” This statement comes from the postgame interview after the thrilling five overtime game won by the Lightning. This game was a record setting game for many players and was the fourth longest game in NHL history.
The Lightning took game one after Brayden Point scored 90 minutes into OT assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Gavrikov’s face. This win was crucial for the Lightning and proved that they could compete with a team that swept them in the playoffs last year. Going into game two, most fans and analyst believed the Bolts would take this momentum from game one and take an early 2-0 series lead.
However, the Blue Jackets and Joonas Korpisalo had other plans, holding the Lightning to only one goal on 37 shots while the Jackets scored three goals on 22 shots. After two games, one thing was very clear. Korpisalo and the defence of Columbus would not be an easy wall to break through.
With a record-setting 85 saves on 88 shots in game one, Joonas, 26-years-old, was looking like a complete fortress between the pipes. The Lightning were going to have to work much harder at blocking his vision on shots from the point and work on getting more aggressive at the net for the plenty of rebound chances Korpisalo let out.
With the series tied at one-a-piece, we go into game three with no clear choice of who is coming out with a 2-1 series lead. The Lightning strike first with a goal from Alex Killorn, and after the opening period, the Lightning continue to dominate the opposing Jackets in shots-on-goal and hits. Brayden Point and Victor Hedman both score a goal in the second period and Columbus can only respond with one goal in the third as Tampa Bay takes game three.
The rest of this series is going to continue to be a dogfight between a dominant offence from the Lightning and one of the best defensive units in the league from the Blue Jackets. Some key notes moving forward in this series, the Bolts must continue to apply pressure in the offensive zone, looking to clear up shooting lanes, getting pucks to the net and hoping to convert rebounds into ginos. There is a clear weak spot in Korpisalo’s goaltending, although brilliant, he does allow many pucks to bounce off him, creating second and even third chances for the Bolts to capitalize.
If the Bolts stick to their game plan set forth by head coach Jon Cooper, they can easily take a 3-1 series lead after game four on Monday afternoon. In game two, we saw the Lightning get comfortable after scoring first and this leads to them trying to play their regular season style of hockey which consists of trying to pass the puck too much to create scoring chances. The Jackets are too good at clogging up the middle of the offensive zone and their stick-work is a hard counter to this style of play.
The Bolts must work the puck in deep, forcing the Jackets towards the boards, which will clear up the shooting lanes for defensemen like Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev to fire off from the blue line. If they can successfully do this, while also staying disciplined on defence, the Jackets do not have enough offensive power to overcome the Lightning and advance to round two.