Friday, 3 a.m.

So what's so tough about playing on the road?

The Tampa Bay Lightning won its second game in two nights Thursday night, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on the road.

The Bolts, who beat Buffalo on Wednesday night, scored twice in the third period to beat the Jackets.

Brandon Hagel had two goals, giving him 13 for the season. Jake Guentzel added another for the Bolts.

Tampa Bay backup goalie Dennis Hildeby stopped 28 of 29 shots to win his fourth game (one overtime loss) in five starts.

The Bolts are home at Benchmark Arena, where they are undefeated, on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m.

Thursday, 4 a.m.

The longer he remains in Tampa Bay, the more the Lightning is justified is asking for Nikita Kucherov in a trade.

Yeah, yeah. The Lightning keeps saying they won't trade Kucherov Still, the articles keep coming.

And Kucherov keeps performing.

In a game that was threatening to go the wrong way, Kucherov took over and made sure the Bolts beat Buffalo. Kucherov had a hat trick -- the eighth of his career -- and an assist in the third period to lead the Bolts to an 8-3 win on the road.

The Bolts scored their eight goals on just 22 shots.

The Lightning seemed to be on their way late in the second period, leading 4-0. But the Sabres scored twice late in the period and again 33 seconds into the third to make it a 4-3 game. It seemed to be another example of the Bolts not closing the door on an opponent.

Kuch killed that momentum, however. He scored his sixth goal of the season with 1:25 gone in the period. He scored his seventh at 4:11. He scored his eighth at 14:13. And he assisted on a Brandon Hagel goal at 15:06.

Kucherov now has 25 points on the season.

Charle-Edouard D'Astous had a plus five rating on the ice for the Bolts.

Hagel had two goals on the night. John Carlson had a goal and two assists. Scott Sabourin and Yanni Gourde scored goals.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 31 shots.

The Bolts travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets tonight at 7.

Monday, 4 a.m.

They made a nice comeback. They forced enough turnovers. They were competitive despite a lousy start.

At the end of the night, however, one question remained about the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Do you trust them?

The Bucs blew a chance to take over the NFC South lead with a 27-24 loss to the Chicago Bears Sunday night at Soldier Field.

Do you trust the secondary? Granted, the defensive backs of the Bucs had three of the team's interceptions and a fumble recovery. But they blew a coverage and allowed a 38-yard completion on the Bears' game-winning drive? They gave up 279 yards passing to Caleb Williams.

Do you trust the quarterback? Yes, Baker Mayfield threw for 243 yards. On the other hand, he threw two picks -- one returned for a 67-yard touchdown and the other when the Bucs had a first down at the Bears' 37 yard line. He also took four sacks.

Do you trust the coaching? Sure, the team rallied after falling behind 14-0. But 24 points when a team has five turnovers isn't enough.

Do you trust the kicking? Absolutely. Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals, continuing his superb season. Punter Riley Dixon averaged 48.8 yards per punt and kicked two inside the 20.

Do you trust Bucky Irving? More and more. Irving had 97 yards on 20 carries and scored twice.

The Bucs fell behind 14-0 as Williams hit Rome Odunze and Luther Burden with touchdown passes.

McLaughlin hit two of his field goals in the second quarter. Then in the third, Irving scored from two yards out.

In the fourth quarter, McLaughlin hit another field goal and Irving went in from six yards out.

Chicago, however, went 49 yards on eight plays to set up their winning field goal.

The Bucs are on the road again in two weeks, traveling to Detroit to play at 1 p.m.