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Lightning holds off Blue Jackets

 
The Lightning’s Cedric Paquette cheers after he scores his third goal in two games for a 2-0 lead against Columbus goalie Anton Forsberg.
The Lightning’s Cedric Paquette cheers after he scores his third goal in two games for a 2-0 lead against Columbus goalie Anton Forsberg.
Published Nov. 9, 2014

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Lightning couldn't have started off much better Saturday night, scoring four goals in the first 15 minutes in dominating the Blue Jackets.

"One of the best periods I thought we've ever played," center Tyler Johnson said.

But Tampa Bay let up a little, and a couple of Columbus power-play goals later, the momentum shifted. The Blue Jackets got as close as two with a third-period flurry before the Lightning held on for a 7-4 win at Nationwide Arena, its fifth straight victory.

"I've seen it happen 100 times," veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov said. "I don't know why it is. Teams score a bunch of goals, up so much. The other team gets hungry, doesn't want to get embarrassed. It happens a lot. And we had such a high margin, so we were able to sustain them. But can you imagine if it's 4-0 and you don't score (again)? It's 4-4 and there's very sour faces. But at the end of the day, we got two points."

Tampa Bay (10-3-1) did just that, matching the quickest it has reached 10 wins in team history (a mark set last year). But the Lightning has yet to play a complete 60-minute game, something it will need to beat the Red Wings today in Detroit and the Blackhawks on Tuesday in Chicago.

"We're getting close, though," coach Jon Cooper said.

The Lightning got the start it needed against the struggling Blue Jackets, who are winless in their past eight games and were coming off a road game the night before. J.T Brown tallied his first goal of the season, on a rebound, six minutes in. Twenty-one seconds later, Cedric Paquette tallied his third in the past two games. Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle (fifth of the season) scored to make it 4-0.

But the Blue Jackets notched two power-play goals in the second period, giving them life. The Lightning allowed three power-play goals total after giving up six in the first 13 games. "They were coming hard to the net," Nabokov said. "They were creating havoc."

Boyle said the Lightning hung Nabokov out to dry, getting outshot 17-5 in the third period. But Nabokov, making his first start in two weeks, settled in after struggling to find his rhythm early, racking up 28 saves.

"I thought he played his best when the score was 6-4," Cooper said. "He's a big reason the score stayed the way it did."

Johnson, who had two goals, said lopsided games are tough to play in on either side, with the mind tending to wander.

"We've just got to play better," he said. "We'll learn a lesson from that, and hopefully it doesn't happen again."

Lightning 4 2 1 7
Blue Jackets 0 2 2 4
Lightning 4 2 1 7
Blue Jackets 0 2 2 4

First1, TB, Brown 1 (Garrison, Sustr), 5:46. 2, TB, Paquette 3 (Drouin, Namestnikov), 6:07. 3, TB, Stralman 2 (Callahan, Stamkos), 12:31 (pp). 4, TB, Boyle 5 (Morrow, Brown), 14:41. PenaltiesProut, Clm (tripping), 11:23; Brewer, TB (interference), 18:45.

Second5, Clm, Hartnell 4 (Wisniewski, Erixon), 4:11 (pp). 6, TB, Callahan 5 (Filppula, Gudas), 5:38. 7, Clm, Hartnell 5 (Foligno, Johansen), 8:10 (pp). 8, TB, T.Johnson 3 (Kucherov, Drouin), 10:05 (pp). PenaltiesNamestnikov, TB (holding), 3:11; Stralman, TB (tripping), 7:27; Prout, Clm (slashing), 9:31; TB bench, served by Drouin (too many men), 13:42.

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Third9, Clm, Johansen 6 (Gibbons, Wisniewski), 1:01. 10, Clm, Foligno 7 (Wisniewski, Erixon), 5:10 (pp). 11, TB, T.Johnson 4 (Callahan), 19:09 (en). PenaltiesStralman, TB (tripping), 4:12; Gudas, TB (roughing), 19:09; Hartnell, Clm (roughing), 19:09; Johansen, Clm (slashing), 19:09. Missed Penalty ShotKucherov, TB, 16:10 first. Shots on GoalTB 15-18-5—38. Clm 4-11-17—32. Power-play opportunitiesTB 2 of 3; Clm 3 of 5. GoaliesTB, Nabokov 2-2-0 (32 shots-28 saves). Clm, Forsberg (15-11), McElhinney 0-4-1 (0:00 second, 22-20).