Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov during his team's 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on January 8, 2019. Credit: Twitter (@PR_NHL)

It happened. The Tampa Bay Lightning lost in regulation. The 5-2 defeat happened at the hands of the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. The the last time the Lightning lost in regulation was on November 27. After that dud, the team went 15-0-1, earning points in 16 straight games. During the streak, the Lightning led the NHL in wins (15) goals (79) and goal differential (+31). There’s been a lot to love about the boys in blue lately, but the loss felt a little like sweet relief. No team is ever untouchable, but the Bolts sure did look the part. It was nice, in a way, to see that they were human (and still 10 points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs who occupy the second slot on NHL point standings).

The Lightning looked to start a new winning streak on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who entered Amalie Arena riding their own streak, having one eight of their last 10. The Bolts haven’t seen Columbus since October 13 when the Lightning thumped the Blue Jackets 8-2, and Tuesday’s contest was another lopsided affair that went in the Lightning’s favor.

Looking refreshed after two days off, the Lightning got the game off to a mellow, controlled start that saw a couple of killer looks come up empty until Mikhail Sergachev lost Blue Jackets winger Eric Robinson with a sweet move before backhanding the biscuit to the slot where Lightning rookie Mathieu Joseph put it home to score his 11th goal of the season. The tally put the Bolts up 1-0 with four minutes left in the frame. Lightning forward Brayden Point got his team-leading 25th goal of the season 44 seconds later, however, after Nikita Kucherov ricocheted a puck off of him and past Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 2-0.


With the assist, Kucherov became the first NHL player to hit 70 points within the first 43 games of a season since Jaromir Jagr did it in just 38 games during the 1999-00 season.

Thanks to some stellar netminding (and a couple of nifty Vasilevskiy poke checks), the Lightning survived a scoreless second period that saw the Bolts get outshot 17-3, but still somehow muster up a couple of shorthanded scoring chances during a Tyler Johnson hooking penalty that came with just 4:31 left in the frame. Credit the Lightning for not giving up any great chances in the period, but give it up for Vasilevskiy, who recently became a late addition to the Atlantic Division all-star team after Montreal’s Carey Price opted to skip all-star festivities in lieu of getting some rest.

The Lightning worked to even the shot count in the third thanks to aggressive play outside of the Blue Jackets’ zone. That hard work was rewarded seven minutes into the third when Point forced a neutral zone turnover before dishing the puck to Johnson who made a picture perfect pass so Kucherov could hammer it home to score his 21st goal of the season and put the Bolts up 3-0. Point continued his stunning play just two minutes later by muscling his way into the zone and then eeking the puck five-hole to score his second goal goal of the game (and his 26th of the 2018-19 campaign). The goal — which pushed the score to 4-0 — led to Bobrovsky’s exit, and the Bolts did the rest by helping Vasilevskiy secure his 14th career shutout on the back of a performance that saw him stop all 31 of the shots he faced.

The Lightning won’t see the Blue Jackets again until February 18, and the Bolts’ next game happens on Thursday, January 10 when the Carolina Hurricanes visit Amalie Arena for a 7:30 p.m. showdown.

This article appears in Jan 3-10, 2019.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...