Blue Jackets rally past Tampa, 4-2 Three-goal third sends Columbus to win - Update to follow

In Columbus, the Blue Jackets erased a 2-1 deficit to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday with a three-goal outburst in the third period for a 4-2 win.

Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves in the win.

Columbus improved to 4-4-2.

The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of the first period on a strike from Kirill Marchenko .

Tampa waited until the middle frame to respond.

“We’re just finding ways to lose,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “That was a nothing game. It should have been easy and it’s over. We didn’t have any push. We haven’t taken penalties all year and we found a way to take three in the third.

“If you want to give yourself a chance to lose, those are some of the things we’re doing, which is why we’re losing games.”

Steven Stamkos scored at 2:53 of the middle frame to tie the game, 1-1.

“They had the majority of the push in the third period. I don’t know if we sat back and watched,” Stamkos said. “We talked about when you have a good (second) period let’s continue to press. It’s kind of disappointing we didn’t do that.”

Two minutes later, Conor Sheary  scored to give Tampa a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

“Overall in the third period, we had five bad minutes when they pushed really hard and got two goals,” Sheary said. “After that they seemed to shut us down, didn’t give us much opportunity.”

In the third, Boone Jenner knotted the game at 2-2 with a strike at 6:41.

“We came out in the third and had some good juice,” Jenner said. “We were playing on our toes and to get rewarded was good. We come back with a couple of good shifts and bang, we get another one. I like the response from us.”

Tampa dropped to 4-3-3.

Columbus took a 3-2 lead on a goal from Erik Gudbranson  at 9:24.

“We did a really good job coming out and believing in our ability to come win the game,” Gudbranson said. “That’s a tough team to take wins from and we did a lot of good things. From last year to this year, that’s a significant difference how we handled that deficit going into the third.”

Johnny Gaudreau scored his first of the season at 17:49 for the 4-2 final.

“To come back the way we did in the third, that response facing the adversity and how we dealt with it, that’s what we’re looking for,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “That’s the type of win that builds character and builds confidence that, ‘OK, we did it once, we can do it over and over and over.’ For everyone that was a big one.”

Matt Tomkins made 24 saves in the loss.