Columbus Blue Jackets at Tampa Bay Lightning preview: It’s time to exact some playoff revenge

Tampa Bay Lightning at Columbus Blue Jackets: ROUND 1, GAME 3

Time: 12:00pm Eastern Time

Location: Scotiabank Arena

Broadcast/Streaming: NBCSN, SN, SUN, FS-O, TVAS

Opponent SBNation Site: Jackets Cannon

Preview:

It will be an incredibly early puck drop, but the task remains the same: the Tampa Bay Lightning will have the opportunity to eliminate the Columbus Blue Jackets with a win in Game 5 and exact a little revenge for last season.

Columbus put up a valiant effort last game, starting strong right out of the gate. Tampa Bay struggled for large parts of each period, but they capitalized when it mattered. The Lightning can’t let their guard down for a single moment this afternoon — the Jackets’ efforts to win will likely be doubled as they attempt to stave off elimination.

The Lightning’s third line of Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman has shone in this series and helped turn momentum in their favour. And while the other lines haven’t been as dominant, there’s no denying the Bolts’ top line has come through offensively when needed.

Physicality was a factor in Game 4, as dangerous hits from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nick Foligno could have seriously injured Alex Killorn and Mikhail Sergachev. The Lightning were lucky neither missed a shift, but the team has to be ready to endure anything and everything the Blue Jackets will throw their way — especially since the league decided neither hit was worth supplemental discipline.

Again, sloppy penalties gave the Blue Jackets an opportunity to get back into last game. The Lightning are playing with fire by continuing to take unnecessary penalties. Tampa Bay has been the better team for most of this series, but it doesn’t mean they can sit back and let Columbus run the show. They’ll have to hit the ground—er, ice, running in Game 5 and not let up. Hopefully we’ll be celebrating a berth into Round 2.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forwards

Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Tyler Johnson

Barclay Goodrow – Yanni Gourde – Blake Coleman

Carter Verhaeghe – Cedric Paquette – Patrick Maroon

Mitchell Stephens, Alexander Volkov, Mathieu Joseph

Injured: Steven Stamkos

Defense Pairs

Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak

Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk

Victor Hedman – Zach Bogosian

Braydon Coburn, Luke Schenn

Injured: Jan Rutta

Goaltenders

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Curtis McElhinney