A four-goal second period by the Tampa Bay Lightning was accomplished with cold, clinical precision Sunday night in Columbus as the Bolts dismantled the Blue Jackets, 5-0.
Tyler Johnson struck for two goals in the frame and they scored twice in 53 seconds with such methodical and patient effort that they seemed to be on a practice sheet of ice
and not a competitive match.
“It’s very important we don’t get satisfied and think we’ve accomplished anything. There’s still more than half the season left. It’s about building up toward the end of the season and playing our best hockey,” Tampa’s Anton Stralman cautioned after the win.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves, 12 in the fist period, to get the shutout and was hardly tested enough to break a sweat.
“We weren’t happy with the first period, so we changed a few things,” Johnson said. “We wanted to shoot more. When you shoot more, you create offense and you get chances off it.”
Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Cory Conacher added single markers in the win.
“That’s a team that’s won the amount of games they have because they smelled the blood in the water and they certainly took it to us there,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.
The Jackets’ recent woes are not without good cause with a raft of injuries to the side.
“No one’s coming to help us,” Nick Foligno said. “No one’s feeling sorry for us. The League keeps coming. We’ve got to find a way out of it. It starts with our mentality of who we are as a team.”
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves in taking the loss.
“We had a good start. We did all the right things in the first period. That was something we could build on. In the second, they got the push and we didn’t have the pushback, and they just kept it on” the Jackets’ Boone Jenner said after the loss.

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