TAMPA, Fla. — Following back-to-back road losses at Dallas and Carolina, the Lightning extended their skid to three games Tuesday night with a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jackets.
This marks the first three-game losing streak for Tampa Bay this season. The last time the team lost at least this many in a row was Feb. 20-27, 2020, a span of four straight losses against Vegas, Arizona, Toronto and Chicago.
Both teams played a scoreless first period Tuesday, and the Lightning faced their scariest moment of the game about five minutes into the second when they nearly lost Victor Hedman to injury.
The defenseman tripped over Columbus’ Mikko Lehtonen — who was sliding backward toward the boards to disrupt Hedman’s pass — and collided into the boards.
Hedman immediately fell and struggled to get up, unable to put pressure on his right leg. Trainer Tom Mulligan and captain Steven Stamkos helped him off the ice and he went down into tunnel. He returned about five minutes later..
The Lightning already were without two of their best defensemen in Ryan McDonagh (four games missed; lower body injury) and Erik Cernak (three games; lower body).
Columbus (14-15-8) opened scoring about midway through the second period. Zach Werenski took a shot near the blueline and Oliver Bjorkstrand grabbed a piece and tipped it past Curtis McElhinney (18 saves) for the 1-0 lead.
With 32 seconds remaining in the second period (and on a delayed penalty), David Savard extended Columbus’ lead to 2-0 with his first goal of the season.
Lightning defenseman Jan Rutta was absent from the bench for the last part of the second period. Rutta’s last shift 4:29 minutes into the period lasted 30 seconds, his second shortest of the game (took a 20 second shift at the end of the first period). He exited the game with a lower body injury and did not return to play.
The Lightning (24-9-2) finally got on the board with 15:48 remaining in regulation. Luke Schenn took a shot from the blueline, which redirected off Mathieu Joseph and Columbus’ Vladislav Gavrikov, to get behind Elvis Merzlikins (36 saves) to bring the score to 2-1.
Columbus’ Cam Atkinson provided the final margin with an empty-netter with 1:31 left in the game.
