Lightning On The Brink of Elimination After Game 3 Loss

After not losing three games in a row all season long, the Tampa Bay Lightning are now reeling. Tampa Bay lost 3-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets falling down 3-0 in the first round of the NHL Playoffs.

Complete Shocker

After a season in which the Lightning won 62 games, Tampa Bay has been completely manhandled in the first three games of the series.

It may be time to stop considering the Blue Jackets underdogs as Columbus got out to 2-0 lead to start the game. The first period was scoreless for both sides but it was all Columbus. The Lightning only attempted three shots on goal. The Blue Jackets struck first blood as Matt Duchene score his second goal of the series. The next goal came during a power play as Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his first goal of the playoffs.

That's another #CBJ power play goal! pic.twitter.com/IQmObDUbCN

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) April 15, 2019

Tampa Bay looked to be on the comeback trail as Even Strength scored a goal less than five minutes into the third period. The Lightning tried their best to try to tie the game at two but the lead became out of reach after Cam Atkinson scored an empty net goal with a minute remaining.

In what has become a regularity in this series, Columbus dominated the stats sheet. The Blue Jackets won 57.1 of their face-offs. Columbus had two power plays compared to Tampa’s zero. The Lightning had a hard time playing discipline as they had more penalties (4) than the Blue Jackets (2). Defensively, Columbus was firing on all cylinders as they had 10 takeaways on the night.

Winning numbers!#CBJ | @PNCBank pic.twitter.com/iUPCbHuBIn

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) April 15, 2019

What’s Next

History will be on the line on Tuesday night.

A team that has won the Presidents’ Trophy has never been swept in the first round of the playoffs. That may well happen on Tuesday night if Tampa Bay cannot figure the Blue Jackets out. Game 4 between the Lightning and Columbus is at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on CNBC.

YES, THIS IS HAPPENING!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/fZ6aCBWMSH

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) April 15, 2019