Tampa Bay Lightning @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Season 25 1/24/26

 Well, 5th Line, if you're snowed in, this recap will keep you occupied for a while because it was a goal buffet at Nationwide Arena tonight! For example, Period 1 had six goals. Yes, six! Cole Sillinger's sixth goal this season kicks us off at 5:47! The only assist on this goal for Cole became Charlie Coyle's twenty-first this season. This goal would be followed up with one of the weirdest I've seen in my years covering this team. No, seriously, Lightning's Jake Guentzel would score his twenty-third goal this season at 7:48 after he shot the puck towards our net. Jet Greaves stopped it, but then sent it away on a rebound, likely hoping one of our guys would clear it, or have a breakaway with the opportunity to score again. Sadly, this didn't happen, but it also backfired. The puck would ricochet off Isac Lundestrom's skate and find its way behind Jet Greaves' net. And that's how the game would go to a 1-1 tie. That said, in the time it took the NHL to figure out which Lightning player last had the puck and who would get credit for the goal, the Blue Jackets would reclaim their lead with Mason Marchment's tenth goal of his season! Erik Gudbranson would have the only assist on this goal, his second this season, at 9:37. Seconds later, Ivan Provorov would be sent to the box after tripping Lightning's Brandon Hagel. The Lightning would then score on their first power play opportunity of the night thanks to Darren Raddysh's thirteenth goal this season. Nikita Kucherov adds his fiftieth assis this season with the primary, while the secondary becomes Jake Guentzel's thirtieth assist of his season. So, again, we are tied, but not for long, as the Blue Jackets would get hotter than the cannon at the end of the opening period! Adam Fantilli puts up his thirteenth goal this season at 18:33! Kirill Marchenko gets himself on the scoresheet with his twenty-fourth assist on the primary, while Mason Marchment adds an assist to his earlier goal (1-1-2) with his twelfth on the secondary.  Then, to close out the period, Dimitri Voronkov adds his seventeenth goal, with no assists, at 19:47! This took our Blue Jackets to a 4-2 lead after one period of play! The shots on goal this period would also be won by the Blue Jackets, 11-7. 

Early in Period 2, the Lightning would come all the way back, tying the game at 4-4. Nikita Kucherov would score first, taking the Blue Jackets' lead down to 4-3 at 3:289. He adds his twenty-sixth goal this season to his assist in Period 1, giving himself a multipoint night. Brandon Hagel would add his second assist tonight, twenty-third this season overall, on the primary, while Anthony Cirelli adds his nineteenth assist on the secondary. The Lightning would complete the comeback at 4:58 as Anthony Cirelli would add a goal to his assist about a minute and a half prior to his goal. Nikita Kucherov would add yet another point to his season (no surprise here) by picking up his fifty-first assist on the primary, while Brandon Hagel adds his third assist tonight, twenty-fourth this season, on the secondary. With the game tied for the third time tonight, the Blue Jackets would fight back, something I've enjoyed seeing as of late! Mason Marchment, at 9:05, would add a second goal to his night (2-1-3) at 9:05 for his eleventh this season! Zach Werenski would add another point to his season with the primary assist, giving him thirty-five so far this season. Charlie Coyle adds yet another point to his night (0-2-2) with assist number twenty-two of his season. Then, at 18:47, Lightning's Charle-Edouard D'Astous would pop the puck over the glass and go to the box for two minutes. Ten seconds later, Charlie Coyle's 1,000th NHL Game wouldn't be his only career milestone moment this week as he'd find the back of the net for the 200th time! This power play goal would become his eleventh this season. It would give Adam Fantilli a primary assist to add to his goal in Period 1, and this would become his nineteenth assist this season. Also, Zach Werenski gets his second assist tonight, his thirty-sixth this season. The Period would again end with a Blue Jackets two-goal lead, 6-4. The Blue Jackets would win the shots on goal battle for the second period in a row, 16-10, too. 

The Blue Jackets and Jet Greaves would guard the net until 14:55, when the Lightning would bring goaltender Jonas Johansson to the bench, and Sean Monahan would ship the puck down the ice for his eighth goal this season! His goal would have no assists. This would bring us to a 7-4 Blue Jackets lead. Jake Guentzel would add a second goal to his night after the Lightning would keep us in our end of the ice for an exhausting amount of time. His goal, at 18:54, would go down as his twenty-fourth goal. Nikita Kucherov, whose name I can now spell without looking, adds his fifty-second assist this season, and third tonight, with the primary. Anthony Cirelli gets his second assist tonight, twentieth assist this season, on the secondary. But the three-goal lead would be claimed again by Mason Marchment, who finishes off his first hat-trick as a Blue Jacket at 19:35! Nine games with us and this man has a 8-2-10, including a hat-trick, in nine games. I hope he loves Columbus, because I think he's staying awhile! This would be the second empty net goal for the Blue Jackets tonight, and the last goal of the game. Adam Fantilli bumps himself up to a 1-2-3 night with his twentieth assist this season on the primary, while Kirill Marchenko adds a second assist to his night, his twenty-fifth this season, on the secondary. It's an 8-5 WIN for the Blue Jackets tonight! The Lightning would win the shots on goal battle in Period 3, 13-5, but that's all they'd win tonight. The Lightning had collected points in fifteen straight games, but tonight, a cannon-hot Columbus team puts the ice on that streak! BOOM! 

Our Third Star of the Game is Adam Fantilli after he finished the night with three points! (1-2-3)

Our Second Star of the Game is Charlie Coyle, who's having a week after his 1-2-3 night in his 1,001st NHL career game! 

And, our man of the night, Mason Marchemt is our First Star of the Game after his Hat-Trick! He finished the night with a 3-1-4! 

We will host the L.A. Kings on Monday night, weather permitting, at 7:00 p.m. The Blue Jackets need only five points to claw into the second wildcard spot right now. The pivot this team has had since Rick Bowness was brought in as Head Coach has been inspired; there's simply no other word for it. I cannot wait for Monday night, 5th Line, and I'm sure you're excited too! 

Be safe in the winter weather this weekend. 

GO CBJ!!