Jake Guentzel broke a third-period tie with a goal in his 700th NHL game as the Tampa Bay Lightning closed out their four-game road trip with a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Brandon Hagel posted two goals and an assist while Nikita Kucherov added two helpers as the Lightning finished the trip 3-1-0 and improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Guentzel added an assist to his game-winning goal for a two-point night.
Backup goaltender Dennis Hildeby, making a rare start to complete Tampa Bay’s back-to-back set, stopped 28 of 29 shots. Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli did not dress for the Lightning after getting injured in Wednesday’s 8-3 win at Buffalo.
Playing with assistant Don Granato behind the bench in place of Rick Bowness (illness), Columbus received its goal from Matthew Knies while Jet Greaves made 25 saves. The Blue Jackets have lost three straight.
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead with a goal similar to one they scored against the Sabres. Just under three minutes into the game, Charle-Edouard D’Astous forced a rebound with a shot from the high slot, and Hagel cleaned it up for his 12th goal of the season.
On the game’s first power play, the Blue Jackets’ Kent Johnson settled down a puck and flipped a pass into the low slot. Knies angled his stick and tied the score at 12:20.
The matchup took a nasty turn immediately afterward, with back-to-back fights. Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin and Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier fought in a heavyweight bout. Two seconds after they went to the penalty box, the Blue Jackets’ Ryan Lomberg took on Jeffrey Viel.
Greaves was at his best in the second period, making a point-blank save on Hagel in the first five minutes. Hagel appeared to score his second goal with 4:42 remaining, but an official review showed he had played the puck with a high stick, and the goal was disallowed in an otherwise scoreless period.
Guentzel scored the winner from the left circle at 1:06 of the third, sending the puck past Greaves. Hagel scored for the second time 6 1/2 minutes later to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead, which the Lightning protected to close their road trip with a victory.
–Field Level Media
