Columbus Blue Jackets @ Tampa Bay Lightning: 2024-25 NHL Season Game 61

Last night, the Tampa Bay Lightning played at the Florida Panthers and lost 2-1. So, to say they were fired up to win at home on Pride Night was a massive understatement. They made a statement at 00:30 with a goal from M. Chaffee that Elvis Merzlikins had zero chance of stopping. This would become his twelfth goal this season and give teammates E. Lilleberg his fourteenth assist on the primary and D.Raddysh his twenty-second on the secondary. Just over a minute would pass until the Lightning would pop another puck past Merzlikins by way of N. Kucherov, giving him twenty-eight goals this season. The only assist on this goal at 1:27 would go to J, Guenttzel, his thirty-first this season. Zach Werenski would come back with his nineteenth goal this season, cutting the Lightning lead to a goal at 17:20. This goal would be all his own with no assists and bring us to a 2-1 Lightning lead after the opening period. 

The Lightning would get to work again quickly in the middle period with J. Guentzel scoring goal twenty-eight of his season at 1:27. V. Hedman would add his thirty-ninth assist this season on the primary while teammate B, Point would add his thirty-first with the secondary. The 3-1 Lightning lead would then increase, again, at 6:36 with V. Headman's tenth goal this season. The primary assist would become number sixty-one this season for N. Kucherov and the secondary would become number twenty-three for D. Raddysh. The Lightning would be on the attack for goal five, but after a goal from B. Point was removed due to an offside call, Zach Werenski would score instead at 10:49, giving him a shorthanded goal to match his best goal total in his career, twenty! Adam Fantilli would add his twentieth assist on this goal with the primary while Kent Johnson would add his twenty-third with the secondary. But, the Jackets would face the third period down two goals. 

The Jackets would push for a third and equalizing goal tonight, but at 9:44 the Jackets would need three to equalize as V. Headman would score his eleventh goal this season, second this evening, giving his home team a 5-3 lead. B. Point would add his second assist tonight and thirty-second this season on the primary while N. Kucherov would also add his second of the night and sixty-second this season on the secondary. Elvis Merzlikins would be pulled but the Jackets couldn't convert the five-on-six to a goal and the Lightning would cap this one off with a sixth, empty net goal. That goal would be scored by J. Guentzel at 17:53 and it would become his twenty-ninth goal this season. There would be no assists on this goal. The final minutes of this game would tick away and a 6-2 Lightning win would be the final.

For his efforts tonight, 2-0-2, Zach Werenski would earn the Third Star of the Game even though he was on the losing team. Congratulations, #8. 

This road trip doesn't get easier from here. We now travel from Tampa Bay, Florida to South Florida to play the Panthers...you know, the defending 2024 Stanley Cup Champions? Yep, them, with former Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. That game will be on Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. 

Go CBJ!  

   






  

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