TAMPA, Fla. _ Forty minutes into Game 2 and boos rained down on the Lightning. They continued through the final period.
This could be the last time Bolts Nation sees this team and there wasn't much well-wishing in the send off.
The Lightning team fans have loved all year was missing in Friday's 5-1 loss. It showed up in the third period, but with too little too late. The Lightning now head to Columbus in a 2-0 series hole.
Mikhail Sergachev scored Tampa Bay's only goal of the game. Depth scoring has carried this team all season _ and it's true that depth is key in the playoffs _ but the stars need to show up.
The point of depth is to be the supporting cast, not to carry the team.
Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos are the undeniable stars of an incredibly skilled team. They haven't been able to do anything.
Stamkos and Kucherov got shots off (eventually), but Point couldn't do that much.
None of the trio has so much as a point in the last four playoff games, five for both Stamkos and Point.
Cam Atkinson and Zach Werenski each scored in the first period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. Matt Duchene added a goal in the second period to make it 3-0, and Riley Nash and Artemi Panarin each notched a third-period goal after Sergachev's tally to round out the scoring.
