Monday, August 17, 2020 03:00 PM (ET)

Lightning top Blue Jackets, take control of series

Field Level Media
Aug 17, 2020

Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow each had a goal and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning earned a 2-1 victory in Game 4 on Monday in their first-round playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Toronto.

The victory gives the Lightning a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series. Tampa Bay can clinch the series with a victory in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Cam Atkinson scored the Blue Jackets' lone goal in Game 4.

All of the Lightning's offense came in the first five minutes of the second period. Tampa Bay's third line of Goodrow, Gourde, and Blake Coleman emerged from the first intermission with a dominant string of shifts that resulted in two goals.

Just 16 seconds into the second frame, Coleman sent a well-placed pass from the side of the net across to Goodrow for the game's opening goal. It was Goodrow's first goal of the playoffs, snapping a personal 19-game points drought in postseason play.

Gourde extended the lead at the 4:09 mark, tipping in a booming Kevin Shattenkirk shot from beyond the circle.

The Blue Jackets responded to Gourde's score by recording the game's next eight shots on goal. The flurry included a goal from Atkinson, who was back in the Columbus lineup after missing Games 2 and 3 with an undisclosed injury.

After being outshot 159-102 over the first three games of the series, Columbus outshot the Lightning by a 29-22 margin in Game 4.

But the Blue Jackets' offensive breakout ran into another strong effort from Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning goaltender stopped 28 of 29 shots to improve to 5-2-0 with a .932 save percentage since the NHL restart.

Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo saved 20 of 22 shots in the losing effort. Korpisalo's game was highlighted by a pair of rapid-fire saves on Pat Maroon and Tyler Johnson during a second-period Lightning power play.

A would-be goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand at 1:52 of the first period was disallowed. A video review revealed a Columbus player was offside in the lead-up to Bjorkstrand's score.

--Field Level Media

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