TORONTO – Tampa Bay earned a 2-1 victory over Columbus in Game 4 from Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena to take a three-games-to-one lead in the teams’ First Round series.
After a scoreless opening period, the Lightning struck quickly in the second, Barclay Goodrow netting his first playoff goal 16 seconds into the middle frame to put Tampa Bay on top 1-0.
The Lightning went in front 2-0 at 4:09 of the second period as Yanni Gourde got a tip on Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the top of the right circle to send a puck past Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo and into the back of the net.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28-of-29 shots to improve to 3-1 in the First Round and 5-2 in the 2020 Playoffs.
Columbus cut the Lightning lead to 2-1 at 5:48 of the second period after Cam Atkinson was able to body a rebound over Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning can close out the First Round series against the Blue Jackets Wednesday in Game 5 from Scotiabank Arena (12 p.m. puck drop).
GAME NOTES: The Lightning have won two straight over the Blue Jackets for their first back-to-back playoff wins in a best-of-seven series since taking Games 3, 4 and 5 in the 2018 Eastern Conference Final against Washington… Lightning center Brayden Point saw his franchise-record six game scoring streak to start the postseason snapped after being held without a point in Game 4. Point has registered at least one point in six of Tampa Bay’s seven games in the 2020 Playoffs…. Tampa Bay improves to 78-66 all-time in the playoffs and 41-33 in the postseason under head coach Jon Cooper.
