CBJ 3, TB 2: Marchenko’s Fifth Goal in Five Games Sets Franchise Record, Lifts Jackets to Victory

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CBJ GOALS: Johnson (P1, 1:36) Severson (P2, 13:59) Marchenko (P3, 1:15)

Kirill Marchenko scored the game-winning goal as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena to end a two-game slide.

Kent Johnson and Damon Severson scored. Jet Greaves made 22 saves.

Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay. Jonas Johansson made 28 saves.

Is it possible that the fifth game of the season could be considered a must-win? The season surely isn't lost after five games, but both teams certainly had something to prove after tough starts to the year.

Columbus came in 1-3-0 while the Lightning entered play 1-2-2 and coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

Erik Gudbranson (upper body, day-to-day) and Miles Wood (upper body) did not play. Nikita Kucherov missed Friday and Saturday's games due to illness.

Here's how the Blue Jackets came away with two huge points against the Lightning.

1st Period:

(3:10 — Fight): During warmups, Mathieu Olivier was approached by 6-foot-9 rookie Curtis Douglas about fighting. Sure enough, the two clashed at 3:10 of the first period.

61 Mathieu Olivier just TOOK DOWN 69 Curtis Douglas pic.twitter.com/1FZ1ABVfaT

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 18, 2025

As has been customary for Olivier, he got the knockdown and the win.

(4:58 — CBJ Goal): Johnson, the birthday boy, scored his first of the season on the Blue Jackets' first shot on goal of the evening. Boone Jenner and Adam Fantilli assisted on the play.

KJ BROUGHT THE PARTY FAVORS!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/qtUwMH4mBl

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 18, 2025

(12:42 — TBL Goal): Tampa Bay responded when McDonagh scored his second of the season as the puck went off the glove of Greaves and over to tie the game 1-1 (Assists: Pontus Holmberg, Erik Cernak).

27 evens the score! pic.twitter.com/6uSZ6yuvYv

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 18, 2025

(16:22 — TBL Goal): A Cole Sillinger penalty for hooking led to Tampa Bay's second power play and their first goal with the man advantage to take a 2-1 lead.

Cirelli tallied his third of the season with Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman picking up the assists.

Sounding the siren for 71 pic.twitter.com/6g6oCo9pGO

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 18, 2025

With a 2-1 lead for the Lightning after one period, the shots on goal were 11-6 Blue Jackets.

2nd Period:

Looking for the equalizer, the Blue Jackets would eventually find it, but they’d have to wait a bit.

Going back to Thursday’s game, when Columbus had two goals taken off the board due to separate hand pass violations, this time, it was a successful Tampa challenge for offsides at 8:58 of the second period, rescinding a goal by Dmitri Voronkov.

But Columbus kept the pressure up and finally tied it.

(13:59 — CBJ Goal): Severson scored his first to tie the game 2-2, with the assists going to Olivier and Charlie Coyle.

SEVO SERVED IT UP!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/OGxpWx6gKW

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 19, 2025

A 2-2 game through two periods, Columbus outshot Tampa Bay 14-3 in the second period.

3rd Period:

(1:15 — CBJ Goal): Needing to keep the pressure up, Columbus regained the lead when Marchenko scored his fifth goal to make it 3-2. Voronkov and Zack Werenksi assisted. Marchenko is the first player in franchise history to score five goals in the first five games. He led the game with five shots.

MARCHY KEEPS THE MAGIC GOING!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/SBKfQdbkMR

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 19, 2025

That was all the scoring needed as Greaves and the Jackets stood tall to withstand the push by Tampa Bay and come away with their second win of the season and first on home ice.

#CBJ win 3-2, but there's a nasty fracas between the skaters on the ice. #TBLightning Hagel fires the puck on net well after the buzzer sounded, and Provorov took exception with a lumberjack two-hand in the back.

First home win of the season.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 19, 2025

You think about the bad breaks that went against Columbus on Thursday against Colorado, with two goals coming off the board, and allowing a goal in the final few seconds of the second period. Yet, to a man, the group knew they didn't play their game. Head coach Dean Evason labeled his team's effort as "soft" and challenged his team to respond; they did just that on Saturday night against a dangerous Lightning team that's yet to find its stride.

From the energy of Olivier's first-period fight, to a resilient second period that saw the Blue Jackets overcome another goal taken away, battle back, and heavily outshoot the Lightning, to Marchenko's game-winning goal 75 seconds into the third — this was the type of effort you expect from this team.

Stat Chat:

• Thanks to Blue Jackets PR, Marchenko's five goals in five games to begin a season is a new franchise mark, surpassing Boone Jenner (2021-22, 23-24), Johnny Gaudreau (2022-23), Sonny Milano (2017-18), and Rick Nash (2008-09), who each had four to begin a season. 
   
• Additionally, Johnson, who turned 23 years old Saturday, became the 13th Blue Jacket in franchise history to score a goal on his birthday. In 2024-25, Adam Fantilli and Sean Monahan scored against the Colorado Avalanche (Oct. 12), and Mikael Pyyhtia scored against the Lightning (Dec. 17).
   
• Coming into the day, Columbus was third in 5v5 save percentage (91.22%) and third in all situations (96.46%).
   
• Greaves had a goals saved above expected of 4.9 per MoneyPuck.

Up Next:

Columbus heads to Dallas for a Tuesday night road game with the Stars at American Airlines Center at 8 p.m.