It's not too often you can out-shoot your opponent and lose by six goals. But it was that kind of night for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
After pulling out a seemingly undeserving win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, the Blue Jackets didn't have any more luck up their sleeves after another poor all-around performance granted them an 8-2 loss to the Lightning on Saturday night in Tampa Bay.
A three-goal first period for the Tampa Bay Lightning was the gut punch out of the gate, and though the Jackets clawed to within one during the second period, the Lightning were consistently in control.
The eighth goal as time expired? Now that was just cruel.
The first Lightning goal came just one minute into the first period after Artemi Panarin ripped a shot off the post. Then following a Blue Jackets power play with an abundance of chances, the Lightning immediately struck again, and you could slowly feel the ice start to tilt.
Josh Anderson scored on a pass from Alexander Wennberg halfway through the second, and Oliver Bjorkstrand did his thing where he shoots lasers to cut the deficit to one. But a Brayden Point goal for Tampa Bay just before the end of the period seemed to take the air out of the Jackets.
Man, this letting-up-goals-at-the-end-of-periods seems to be becoming a real thing, huh?
These back-to-back goals were about as exciting as it got for the Jackets as they failed to register another point on the board for the rest of the game, and aside from a miss from Lukas Sedlak on a wide-open net, they really didn't generate a ton of great chances.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky wasn't given much help, but also didn't play to his usual stature as he had just 23 saves on 30 shots.
Coach John Tortorella shifted up lines as best as he could throughout the game, but missed power play chances and three power play goals from the Lightning didn't give a ton of motivation for even-strength play.
INJURY UPDATE
Brandon Dubinsky and Seth Jones remain week-to-week with injuries.
NEXT UP
The Blue Jackets have quite some time off before their next matchup at home versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.