While not quite a “pivotal,” stretch for Columbus, they opened play Tuesday with a week full of division leaders with the Lightning, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals on the bill. And, if the Jackets were using this week as a measuring stick to see where they rank with the top teams in the league, there’s a bit of work to do before Thursday.
Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets were blanked by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0, thanks in large part to phenomenal play from Tampa’s netminder, Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped all 31 shots he faced, a majority of which came in the final two periods of play.