Lightning-Blue Jackets Game 3 report card: Tampa Bay creates net-front chaos - Tampa Bay Times

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From the start of Saturday’s game, it was clear the Lightning wanted to create chaos in the Columbus zone to get the Blue Jackets away from their system and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo out of his comfort zone.

Trouble was, it was so obvious at first, it caught the officials’ attention as well.

Veteran forward Pat Maroon set off a dustup in front of the Columbus net less than two minutes into the game by crashing into defenseman Dean Kukan from behind.

Maroon was penalized for roughing, the first of three penalties called against the Lightning in the period, including a long 5-on-3. The infractions kept Tampa Bay’s highly skilled offensive players off the ice for much of the early part of the game.

But the Lightning penalty killers kept the Blue Jackets off the board, and when the teams returned to 5-on-5 play, it was no contest.

Tampa Bay overwhelmed Columbus in the second period, spending much of the period in the Blue Jackets zone and outshooting them 16-4. Brayden Point and Victor Hedman scored in the period, and the Lightning never looked back.

Unlike the first two games of the series, the Lightning got to the scoring areas. Point’s goal came on a rebound from in front of the Columbus net. Only a spectacular skate save from Korpisalo prevented Barclay Goodrow from scoring from the same spot. Cedric Paquette acquainted himself with the Blue Jackets goaltender.

Then there was Maroon, in the middle of everything.

Here is how we graded the Lightning’s performance in the 3-2 win in Game 3.

Offense

Lightning left wing Alex Killorn (17) celebrates his goal against the Blue Jackets with right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) during the first period. [ NATHAN DENETTE | The Canadian Press via AP ]

Maroon, who said Friday the Lightning forwards were making it too easy for Korpisalo to see the puck, set the tone with his early foray into the Blue Jackets’ net. There was a pileup in the goalmouth seemingly every time Korpisalo held the puck after making a save.

The goaltender, who set a two-game playoff record with 121 saves in Games 1 and 2, finally showed his frustration when he tried to put Ondrej Palat in a headlock during a scrum late in the third period.

Related: If your mouth is dry and hands are sweaty, the Lightning game must be on

But what it took to get the offense going was a little bit of ... defense. With less than five minutes remaining in the first period, Zach Bogosian poked the puck from Liam Foudy at the Tampa Bay blue line. Anthony Cirelli collected the puck and passed ahead to Alex Killorn, starting a 2-on-1. Killorn faked a pass to Cirelli, then beat Korpisalo with a backhand shot between the legs.

After spending much of the first 25 minutes killing penalties, the Lightning showed their offensive superiority, outshooting the Blue Jackets 26-7 over the final two periods.

Grade: A

Defense

Two Lightning goals came after Tampa Bay stood up Columbus players in the neutral zone or at the Tampa Bay blue line and created odd-man breaks going the other way.

Bogosian’s steal led to the Killorn goal, and Carter Verhaeghe forced a turnover on defenseman Victor Hedman’s eventual game-winner. Paquette started the rush up ice, passing to Verhaeghe, who skated to the top of the right circle before dropping a pass back to a trailing Hedman, who beat Korpisalo under the arm with a shot from the slot.

Hedman made an equally big play earlier in the game at the other end of the ice. With the Lightning down two men, Hedman lunged with his stick to break up a Zach Werenski pass intended for Foudy at the back post. Had the puck found its way to Foudy, the forward would have had an open net to shoot into.

On the minus side, defenseman Erik Cernak pinched and lost the puck to Gustav Nyqvist along the sideboards, leading to Riley Nash’s early second-period goal. And Mikhail Sergachev lost the puck in front of the Lightning net after trying to backhand a pass up the middle of the ice in the first period, nearly resulting in a scoring chance for Columbus’ Emil Bemstrom.

Grade: B

Special teams

A penalty kill that was maligned for allowing two goals to the woeful Blue Jackets power play over the first two games came up huge in the first period, blanking Columbus on three chances with the man advantage, including a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:26.

Almost as big was a kill three minutes into the second period.

Shortly after Nash’s goal tied the score at 1, Nyqvist drew a hooking penalty from Hedman. All of the momentum seemed to be swinging in Columbus’ direction. But the Lightning killed the penalty without allowing a shot and quickly took over the game.

Tampa Bay failed to score on its lone power-play opportunity, extending its scoreless stretch to 0-7 with the man advantage since the start of the series.

Grade: A

Goaltending

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) covers the puck as defenseman Victor Hedman (77) and Columbus Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois (18) look for a rebound during the second period Saturday. [ NATHAN DENETTE | The Canadian Press via AP ]

Andrei Vasilevskiy came up big when the Lightning needed him most, stopping chance after chance during Columbus’ long two-man advantage. He made a nice save on a Werenski blast from the right circle and got some unexpected help when Bemstrom hit the post with a wide-open net in front of him.

Vasilevskiy showed good instincts by reacting quickly to smother a David Savard shot that bounced off the end boards and into the back of his skates at the start of the second period.

He looked fooled by Nash’s shot from the left circle, which beat him over the glove, but got a piece of an Alexandre Texier blast from a similar spot after a Columbus breakaway later in the period.

Grade: B-minus

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