Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Sometimes, you win. Sometimes, you cruise.
Sometimes, you just escape.
It’s a lesson the Tampa Bay Lightning were reminded of Tuesday night. One minute, they’re ahead 4-0 and they’re cruising. The next, the Columbus Blue Jackets were within a goal and were pressing.
The Bolts won 5-3, but not before danger whizzed past their ear.
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“This is a hard league to win in,” Bolts’ coach Jon Cooper said. “Just because you’re up 4-0, does that mean you’re going to win 4-0 or you’re supposed to win 6-0.
“For two periods, we couldn’t play any better. Were we hoping the other team was going to quit and they could just skate through the third period? They didn’t. Columbus kept coming. We screwed around on a regroup and it’s in the net. We scored around on a rush. We didn’t need a fifth goal. We tried to score the fifth goal even when it was 4-1.
“I’m not apologizing for winning. That’s what we’re here to do. Would I like to wake up in the morning and see a better stat line? For sure. But we’ll wake up with two more points than we had.”
The Bolts needed an empty net goal by Brayden Point, his 21st, with 2:49 before it closed the door on Columbus.
The Bolts built a 4-0 lead on goals by Luke Glendening, Nick Paul, Jake Geuntzel and Mitchell Chaffee.
For Guentzel, it was his seventh straight game with a goal.
Paul scored a goal and had two assists. “He was the best player on the ice, start to finish,” Cooper said.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, playing in his 500th career game, stopped 28 of 31 shots.
Columbus scored twice off of turnovers by the Bolts in 42 seconds, and Cole Sillinger scored on a power play to make it a one goal game.
The Bolts are home at Amalie Arena on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
But Columbus scored twice off of turnovers by the Bolts in 42 seconds, and Cole Sillinger scored on a power play to make it a one goal game.
The Bolts are home at Amalie Arena Thursday night at 7 p.m. against St. Louis.