Blue Jackets don't give up, defeat Tampa Bay 5-3
By Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired    Photos By Tom Theodore

For nearly two months, the Columbus Blue Jackets have lost their winning touch inside Nationwide Arena.

On Sunday, the Jackets ended a seven-game winless streak by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 in front of 14,769. Columbus had not won at home since beating Vancouver, 3-2, on Jan. 15.

“We’ve been disappointed with the way we’ve played at home since the All-Star break, that’s really been the backbreaker for us,” Jackets center Michael Peca, who had a goal, said. “The home games, we’ve been too relaxed, not intense enough.”

Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock described the win with one word—“Relieved.”

Jason Chimera broke a 3-3 tie with 2:23 remaining and Jiri Novotny scored an empty-netter to lead the Blue Jackets, who now sit five points out of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Derek MacKenzie scored his first NHL goal, while David Vyborny also scored for the Jackets. Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev each had two assists.

Jeff Halpern had a goal and an assist to lead the Lightning, who has dropped four straight and 10 of its last 11 games. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier each added a tally.

“It was a good win, we needed it,” Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire, who had 24 saves, said. “We played a solid team game today. (Tampa Bay) is not an easy team to play against. They have power up front and play good defense.”

The first period featured a four-minute penalty by Derek MacKenzie and 10-minute majors to Chimera and Tampa Bay’s Shane O’Brien for getting chippy. O’Brien got an extra two minutes for going after Chimera as they were both skating to the penalty box and Columbus nearly capitalized with man advantage.

Vyborny scored at 11:29 of the first period when he hit a hard shot at the goal line over the shoulder of Lightning goaltender Mike Smith. The goal was scored one second after the O’Brien penalty expired.

Halpern knotted the game at one when he took a centering pass from former Jacket Mathieu Darche and went top shelf on Leclaire at 14:14.

Columbus regained the lead with 42 seconds remaining in the first when Dan Fritsche stole the puck from Smith, who was playing the puck behind the net, and feeding the puck to the empty net. Gilbert Brule fanned on a shot attempt and MacKenzie was there to tip the puck into the open net.

“It was nice to finally get that one,” MacKenzie said. “Especially to get it when we are hunting for a playoff spot, it makes it much more special.”

Smith is known to be a third defenseman on the ice. “It's the only time I’ve ever seen him give up a goal coming out of the net like that,” said Lightning forward Jeff Halpern.

Zherdev led a rush and fed a pass to Peca in the slot, who scored at 11:29 of the second to give the Jackets a 3-1 lead.

Tampa Bay then scored two goals within a minute to pull even late in the second period. St. Louis hit a slap shot from the left face-off circle at 16:35. Lecavalier then went between the legs of Leclaire on a penalty shot.

Chimera scored the game-winner with 3:44 remaining on the power play as he redirected Zherdev’s 23-foot slap shot. The puck trickled between the pads of Smith and over the goal line. The goal ended a 0-for-34 slump with the man advantage for the Jackets.

“To come back and win in the third is the best feeling right now,” Hitchcock said. “You start to have doubt in your game. … but winning like tonight can relieve some of those problems.”

Novotny iced the game with a empty-net goal with one minute remaining in the game.

Tampa Bay outshot Columbus 27-25 and went 0-for-7 on the power play. The Jackets went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Smith stopped 20 shots for the Lightning.

“I thought our team played hard, defended well and didn’t give them many opportunities at all,” Lightning coach John Tortorella said. “Scored a couple of goals, played good enough to lose.”

The Jackets have four days off before hosting Chicago Friday at 7 p.m.