John Tortorella admitted he had some concerns about how the Blue Jackets would start this game.
After 20 minutes had elapsed, those concerns had just about dissipated.
Less than a week ago, Columbus went into Amalie Arena and outplayed the Lightning en route to a 5-3 win, and Tortorella figured the visitors would come into this game with a different attitude about them. The Blue Jackets, however, did most of the inflicting in this game and set the tone with an authoritative first period.
William Karlsson scored the opening goal at 5:30 of the first, calling his own number on a 3-on-1 and beating Andrei Vasilevskiy to the long side. It was one of 16 first-period shots for Columbus.
His line drove the bus for the Blue Jackets (12-5-4), who wrapped up the best November in franchise history to tie idle Washington on points (28) for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus posted a 9-2-3 overall record this month and 7-1-1 at Nationwide Arena, a building they’ve established as a tough place to play.
“We played hard, played well, played fast,” Scott Hartnell said. “We played great defense. They didn’t have much time and space with the puck – that’s what a successful team needs to do game in and game out, and we’ve done a good job of that.”
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
