Was it the cleanest victory of the season for the Tampa Bay Lightning? No, but it was a victory. Thanks to Brandon Hagel’s three points and Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 32-save performance the Lightning were able to hold off a third period comeback by the Columbus Blue Jackets and pick up the 4-2 victory. Nikita Kucherov added to his league-leading points total with two assists while Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul had two-point nights.
The Lightning weren’t necessarily sharp in the first period, but they played much better than they had against the Rangers and Islanders. When they did break down, Vasilevskiy was there to make the save as he stopped all nine shots in the opening frame.