Lightning blow 3-0 lead, fall to Blue Jackets in overtime

The Lightning wrapped up their two-game road trip in Columbus on Thursday night, failing to extend their winning streak to four. After a season filled with back-and-forth battles against lower-tier teams, Jon Cooper must have been relieved to see his team jump out to a fast start against the Blue Jackets. That relief, however, would be short-lived.

The Bolts came out firing, taking an early 1-0 lead just under two minutes into the game when Brayden Point scored on the power play. A few minutes later, Brandon Hagel added another. Nikita Kucherov picked up an assist on both goals, pushing his career point total to 900. Cam Atkinson then made it 3-0 for Tampa Bay, scoring his first goal of the season to give the Lightning a comfortable lead. But Columbus didn’t stay down for long, as Sean Monahan scored to cut the lead to 3-1 before the end of the period. Still, it was a promising start for the Bolts, who have found themselves in too many tight games with weaker teams this season.

But that positive feeling didn’t last. The second period turned into a defensive disaster for the Lightning. Within the first six and a half minutes, the 3-1 lead evaporated, and the Bolts suddenly found themselves trailing 5-4. It was a painful deja vu for Jonas Johansson, who has now allowed five goals in each of his three starts this season. And to be honest, the Lightning skaters didn’t exactly make life easier for him-three of those goals came on breakaways, and another on a Columbus power play.

By the end of the second period, it was 5-5. Ten separate players had scored a goal, and Tampa Bay was lucky to escape the chaos with the game tied. Johansson faced a barrage of shots as the period wound down but somehow kept the score level, avoiding a sixth goal and giving his team a chance to recover in the final frame.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the Bolts' misfortune. Midway through the third period, Victor Hedman drew a holding penalty, leading to a Tampa Bay power play. But instead of taking advantage, the Lightning were burned again. Columbus scored on a short-handed breakaway goal - their third in just as many games - once again catching Johansson and the defense off guard.

The Lightning didn’t hang their heads though. As the remaining portion of the powerplay was nearing an end, Gage Goncalves fired a shot on goal, and rookie Conor Geekie was in the right place to redirect it into the net. That goal, which tied the game at 6-6, also marked Goncalves’ first career NHL point. The two goals came just 44 seconds apart, and ultimately sent the Bolts to extra time for the second straight game.

In this league, with its funky playoff system, teams are always happy to pick up a participation point. Sadly, that's all the Lightning managed as Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski netted his second goal of the night, ending both the game and Tampa Bay's three-game winning streak. The troubling trend continues, with the Bolts falling to yet another bottom-16 team. They'll look to tighten up their defense and goaltending when Dallas comes to town on Saturday evening - luckily, Vasilevskiy is expected to be back in net.