The Lightning scored first Thursday, but couldn't follow through. They fell to the Blue Jackets 3-1 in Game 2 at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena, and their first-round playoff series is now knotted at one game apiece.
Nikita Kucherov scored first, making good on the Lightning's third chance of the play. Ondrej Palat took the first and second shots, the former was saved and the latter passed over the net. Kucherov collected the puck behind the net and, while others were still figuring out where it was, made a move the backhand to slip it inside the post.
Despite controlling possession for the first half of the period, one bad power play by the Lightning gave Columbus a chance. The Blue Jackets killed that penalty by hemming Tampa Bay into the defensive zone, then scored 30 seconds later.
Fast forward about six minutes and Columbus followed up with a power-play goal _ when Oliver Bjorkstrand was left alone at the right faceoff dot _ to take a 2-1 lead.
The Blue Jackets held onto momentum from there, but couldn't put the Lightning away until Alexander Wennberg scored with 8:33 to play. He was alone on the rush and made a nice move to play the puck off his skate, then got a shot off on his way to the ice.
