Round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Columbus Blue Jackets was sure to be an interesting one. Tampa Bay dominated the regular season with 128 points and captured the Presidents’ Trophy. While Columbus, was one of the two Wild Card teams to make the playoffs. So, what happened in this battle of the blue?
In a stunning and possibly one of the most shocking upsets in sports history, the Columbus Blue Jackets SWEPT the star-studded Tampa Bay Lightning. Sending the Bolts home packing and leaving the hockey world in both shock and awe. How did Columbus pull this off?
Despite having strong power players in Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Tyler Johnson to name a few, Tampa simply ran out of gas. From game one, Columbus dominated the Lightning. They took advantage of their power plays, and rarely resulted in their own men taking penalties. Game four was a blowout with a final score of 7-3 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night.
Forward Cam Atkinson told reporters after the game, “We’re a resilient group, and we were able to show that.”
Despite their dominance in the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning were simply shell shocked and disappointed. This was certainly not the ending anyone could have expected, especially the organization and the fans. Following the game four loss, the Lightning locker room remained in silence prior to the media entering for post-game comments.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh said, “We hurt ourselves in a lot of different fashions. Strengths that were keys to us winning in the regular season didn’t get it done in this series. They won all of those categories.”
It all seemed like the perfect dream for Tampa. A sixty-two regular season wins, the Presidents Trophy, and Kucherov’s historic points total, but just like a Florida hurricane, it was all washed away.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets can now rest and regroup as they await to find out their opponent in round two. It will be between the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins. The Lightning’s playoff collapse is just a testament that in sports and in life, anything can happen.
[…] in full effect, the second round teams have already been decided. In the Eastern Conference, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins are playing each other and the Carolina Hurricanes are playing the New York […]