Bolts close to avenging ‘19
Andrei Vasilevskiy had 28 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde each had a goal and an assist as the Lightning pushed the Blue Jackets to the verge of elimination after being swept by Columbus in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
Game 5 is Wednesday. “Every game has been a battle, and I don’t expect any different going forward,” said Lightning center Blake Coleman, who assisted on Goodrow’s score. “They’re not going to be a team that lays over for us. Being up 3-1 is great, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t take care of business.”
Cam Atkinson scored for Columbus, and Joonas Korpisalo had 20 saves.
The Blue Jackets seemed to have recharged after running out of gas in the Game 3 loss. They got the first goal early in the first period, but it was waved off because Alexandre Texier was offside entering the zone.
Then the Lightning scored twice in the first five minutes of the second period.
They opened the scoring 16 seconds into the second when Goodrow chopped at the puck in traffic in front of Korpisalo and popped it over his blocker. Gourde made it 2-0 by redirecting a long shot by Kevin Shattenkirk at the 4:09 mark.
Less than two minutes later, Atkinson got credit for the Columbus goal when a long shot by Pierre-Luc Dubois pinballed between Atkinson and the goalie before going into the net. Vasilevskiy argued for goalie interference to no avail.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said it was gratifying to see the GourdeGoodrow-Coleman line finally rewarded for their hard work.
“The one thing is, they set the tone for us,” Cooper said. “They started every game. You know they’re like gnats. I feel like they’re just always buzzing around and you try to knock them away and they just never leave. They put work ethic above everything else. They’re selfless players, and they don’t have an off-switch.”
Columbus took a penalty for too many men on the ice with 1:07 left in the game, which interrupted its late 6-on-5 push.
“There’s no sense being frustrated,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. “Just get ready for our next game.
“I love our team,” he said. “I like the way they have handled themselves so the whole time out here in the bubble.”
Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1 — Nazem Kadri had two goals and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and Colorado overwhelmed Arizona to take a 3-1 lead their first-round playoff series.
The Avalanche jumped on Arizona after losing 4-2 in Game 3, scoring three first-period goals, two by Kadri on the power play.
Matt Calvert, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist. Grubauer was sharp after Pavel Francouz started Game 3.
Matt Nieto and Joonas Donskoi also scored to put Colorado in position to clinch the series Wednesday in the Edmonton bubble.
The Coyotes had numerous defensive breakdowns and took three penalties while falling into the early hole, leaving goalie Darcy Kuemper defenseless.
Kuemper gave up four goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Antti Raanta in the third period and Jakob Chychrun scored for the Coyotes, who were held to 15 shots.