CBJ 5, TBL 2: Garland’s Two Goals Fuel Blue Jackets’ Win Over Lightning

By Will Chase on March 10, 2026 at 10:08 pm
Tampa, Florida, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Conor Garland (83) reacts after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third period at Benchmark International Arena.
© Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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When you absolutely need it.

  1 2 3 F
CBJ 0 3 2 5
TBL 1 1 0 2

CBJ GOALS: 
Ivan Provorov (2nd, 5:57)
Conor Garland (2nd, 6:27)
Kirill Marchenko (PP) (2nd, 11:42)
Conor Garland (PP) (3rd, 3:59)
Dante Fabbro EN (3rd, 15:28)

A game highlighted by three second-period goals and two more tallies by Conor Garland helped power the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Tampa Lightning 5-2 on Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena.

Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko, and Dante Fabbro also scored for Columbus. Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski each had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins made 16 saves.

Gage Goncalves and J.J. Moser scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.

Tampa got on the board first with Goncalves scoring for Tampa Bay at 13:38 of the first period.

Cole Sillinger and Moser got into a fight with 50 seconds left in the first period. In addition to the five-minute majors, Sillinger got two minutes for elbowing Moser. Moser got two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct against Sillinger.

The Blue Jackets found their second-period offense with two goals in 30 seconds. Provorov scored first at 5:57 with a slap shot that went through several players in front. Garland scored his third goal in back-to-back days for Columbus, putting the Jackets ahead 2-1 at 6:27.

At 11:42, Marchenko scored on the power play to extend the Jackets' 3-1 lead.

The Lightning were held to six total shots on goal more than halfway through the second period as the Jackets had a 12-1 edge at one point in the middle frame. The Lightning only had four even-strength shots on goal and 12 total shots through 40 minutes. They finished with 10 even-strength shots and were held to a season-low 18 shots.

Tampa Bay had consecutive second-period power plays that the Blue Jackets were able to hold to only four shots. After the power plays, Moser cut the deficit to one at 16:23 to make it 3-2 with the tally right off a face-off to Merzlikins' left.

Garland's third-period insurance marker, his second goal of the game, fourth in two days, at 3:59 of the third period, put Columbus ahead for good, 4-2. Dante Fabbro scored the 200-foot empty-net goal to put the finishing touches on the win.

"He plays the right way," Werenski said about Garland. "He competes. He works extremely hard." He's a smaller guy, but he doesn't play like it, and I think that brings everyone else into the fight."

"Just watch (Garland) play," head coach Rick Bowness said. "He fits right in because he's persistent."

Here's how the Blue Jackets stretched their point streak to seven games and got back in the win column:

1st Period:

(13:38 — TBL Goal): Goncalves (8) started the scoring for Tampa Bay. The assists went to Victor Hedman (15) and Nikita Kucherov (70). There was a ton of skill on the play as the Lightning moved the puck up ice and Goncalves tipped in Hedman's shot.

(5:57 — CBJ Goal): Provorov's eighth, assisted by Denton Mateychuk (17) and Charlie Coyle (35), started a string of three straight Blue Jackets goals.

(6:27 — CBJ Goal): Garland (10) had gone 24 games between goals. Now he has three in consecutive days for the Blue Jackets. His second-period tally gave Columbus its first lead. Kent Johnson (14) and Monahan (20) contributed with the assists.

CBJ GAME STATS TBL
31 SHOTS 18
51 SHOT ATTEMPTS 46
31 SCORING CHANCES 16
13 HIGH-DANGER CHANCES 5
43.6% FACEOFF PERCENTAGE 56.4%
2/4 POWER PLAY 0/3
3/3 PENALTY KILL 2/4
21 HITS 29
17 GIVEAWAYS 11
9 TAKEAWAYS 2
15 BLOCKED SHOTS 8

Stat Chat:

  • In 13 of the last 16 meetings, the Blue Jackets and Lightning have combined for at least six goals, including 11 instances with at least seven goals.
     
  • With two more goals and four in the first three games, Garland is the fastest to four goals to start a Blue Jackets career in franchise history.
     
  • For the first time since 2016-17, the Blue Jackets won the season series against the Lightning, sweeping them both times (3-0-0).

Up Next:

The Blue Jackets stay down south as they take on the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Puck drop from Amerant Bank Arena is set for 7 p.m.

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