The Tampa Bay Lightning took advantage of a struggling Columbus Blue Jackets club on Saturday night, and wound up walking off the Amalie Arena ice with a 3-1 victory in their back pocket as a result. Led by a strong performance from Ben Bishop and some timely offense from all corners of the roster, the Bolts were able to string together their tenth (!) straight home win.
After battling through an evenly matched first 19-plus minutes, the Bolts were sparked with only 24 seconds remaining in the opening frame when Brett Connolly scored his ninth of the season. Some great work by Jason Garrison and Brenden Morrow allowed Connolly to chip the puck past former Bolt Curtis McElhinney.
The goal was just a highlight on what was an all-around solid night for number-14. Connolly was a 71% five-on-five Corsi player, despite spending the evening in a bottom-six role. If he continues to do what he’s done through the bulk of this season, there is undoubtedly a place for him in the NHL moving forward.
The former 6th overall pick’s goal held up as the game’s only tally through the entire second period, as both Ben Bishop and McElhinney were sharp. The Lightning fired 16 on Columbus’s goal, while the Blue Jacket’s fired 11 at Bishop. Perhaps the most notable save was this classic ‘stack of the pads’ from Bishop:
HIGHLIGHT: Ben Bishop makes a superb save by stacking the pads robbing Blue Jacket Mark Letestu. WATCH: http://t.co/0gYObI8thg
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 1, 2015Also of note is the fact that Jonathan Drouin was credited with the primary assist on Paquette’s score. With that, he now has 22 points through 40 games this season, including four in his last three games. It’s abundantly clear that he’s becoming more and more comfortable with life in the NHL. It’s also apparent that the sky truly is the limit.
While Paquette’s goal would eventually become the game winner, the true backbreaker was scored at 11:43 when Valtteri Filppula notched his tenth of the campaign. An awkward bounce allowed Filppula to skate onto the puck and wire it past McElhinney. That one took all the wind out of Columbus’s sails.
A late goal from Ryan Johansen wasn’t enough to propel the Blue Jackets to a spectacular comeback, even as Columbus head coach Todd Richards elected to pull his goaltender with four minutes remaining. The Bolts locked things down and waited until the final buzzer rang. It did, and the Lightning reclaimed top spot in the Eastern Conference.
With a stunningly brutal February schedule on the horizon, it was imperative for the Lightning to pick up points in this game. The team’s next game will come on Tuesday night in St. Louis against the testy Blues.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.