(SportsNetwork.com) – The Columbus Blue Jackets haven’t had much success as a
franchise when visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That may not change on Saturday given the Lightning’s current five-game
winning streak at Amalie Arena, where they will play host to the Blue Jackets.
Tampa Bay is 11-2-1 at home on the season and began a four-game residency with
a 5-0 rout of the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. Ben Bishop needed to make just
13 saves for his first shutout of the season and ninth of his career as the
Bolts split a home-and-home set with the Sabres.
Steven Stamkos, Brenden Morrow, Nikita Kucherov, Jason Garrison and Brett
Connolly scored for the Lightning, who had a four-game winning streak snapped
in Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout loss in Buffalo.
“I thought it was a big team win,” Bishop said. “We played a full 60 minutes.”
The Lightning have won five of their last seven over the Blue Jackets and five
straight as the host in this series. Tampa Bay is 7-1-0 all-time at home
versus Columbus.
The Bolts had their offense going when they visited the Blue Jackets on Nov.
8, getting goals from six different skaters and points from 15 players in a
7-4 win.
Bishop is likely to face the Blue Jackets tonight and is 1-1-0 against them
with a 1.06 goals against average and .951 save percentage in two prior
meetings with one start.
While Bishop had a fairly easy night versus the Sabres, Blue Jackets netminder
Sergei Bobrovsky is coming off a record-breaking performance in a 4-3 shootout
win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday. He made a franchise-record 52
saves and stopped all four skaters he faced in the shootout.
Ryan Johansen scored the lone tally of the tiebreaker as Columbus picked up
back-to-back wins over Florida following a six-game losing streak.
“I definitely think we stole two points tonight,” Johansen said.
Cam Atkinson tallied a goal with an assist, while Nick Foligno and Boone
Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets. Kerby Rychel had two assists, giving
him three points in three career games.
Columbus will try to win three in a row for the first time this season and is
likely to start Bobrovsky, who is 2-1-0 versus the Lightning with a 3.44 GAA
and .864 save percentage in five meetings with four starts.
