COLUMBUS, Ohio _ The wheels are off.
This was supposed to be the greatest season in franchise history, one of the greatest the NHL had ever seen.
But it's not.
Now, with a 3-1 loss to Columbus in Game 3 on Sunday, the Lightning are 60 minutes from this being one of the most disappointing, embarrassing seasons in sports history.
Tampa Bay scored nearly at will in the regular season. The Lightning dominated both sides of special teams. They rebounded quickly, only losing consecutive games twice (and one of those pairs were both in overtime). On the few occasions it was necessary, goalies stole games.
None of that is the case in the playoffs. Now, the Lightning's only hope is to do something that has only been done four times in NHL history: Come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
The Maple Leafs did it in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals. In 1975, the Islanders came back to beat the Penguins in the quarterfinals. More recently, the Flyers overcame that deficit against the Bruins in the 2010 second round, and then the Kings did it to the Sharks in the first round in 2014.
It's a list the Lightning didn't expect to join. But Tampa Bay needs to do so or it will match the 1995-96 Red Wings' first-round exit after 62 wins.
Columbus seems to have all the answers the Lightning is missing. Even when Tampa Bay came on strong in the third period, finally pressuring Sergei Bobrovsky in net, the Blue Jackets handled it.
