Evason, Greaves on Blue Jackets’ win over Lightning
Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason, goalie Jet Greaves talk about a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Oct. 18 at Nationwide Arena.
It started to look like another game that might get away from the Blue Jackets on Oct. 18 at Nationwide Arena, but they found a way to push back against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After losing a 1-0 lead provided by Kent Johnson’s goal early in the first period, the Blue Jackets (2-3-0) overcame a 2-1 deficit on goals from Damon Severson in the second and Kirill Marchenko in the third for a 3-2 victory in their first of five 25th Anniversary nights.
“We need it bad for sure, and a lot of people are saying ‘must win’ game,” Severson said. “It gets our record in a better spot than what it was 24 hours ago, but it definitely was as close to a ‘must win’ game, so far, that we’ve had.”
Jet Greaves made 22 saves for his first win of the season, not allowing a goal after Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli scored against him in the first, including the latter capping a power play.
Jonas Johansson made 28 saves for the Lightning (1-3-2), who didn’t have star right wing Nikita Kucherov (illness) and started their backup goalie to conclude a back-to-back that began with a 2-1 overtime loss Oct. 17 in Detroit.
Johnson gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead 4:58 into the game with a tremendous individual effort for his first goal and point of the season. Nearly 12 minutes later, the Lightning led 2-1 after goals 3:40 apart by McDonagh to tie it 1-1 and Cirelli to cap a power play.
That’s how it stayed until Severson tied it 2-2 with 6:01 left in the second on his first goal. The only other goal in the second was scored by Dmitri Voronkov, but it was wiped out by a coaching challenge that caught a missed offside prior to it.
That remained the score at the end of the second period, which the Blue Jackets dominated with a 14-3 edge in shots.
“We’ve talked about our team’s composure,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “It probably would’ve been easy for them to go, ‘Aww … again?’ We get another negative situation go against us or turn negative, but they didn’t. So, that’s a lot of leadership qualities, I think.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social