Summary
On todays Daily Strike, the Lightning finish a back-to-back sweep. One night after an 8-3 rout in Buffalo, Tampa Bay beat the Blue Jackets 3-1 in Columbus. The Bolts scored early, but Columbus tied it 1-1 on a power-play goal about 10 minutes later. Right after that, Scott Sabourin dropped the gloves with Olivier and Jeff Viel squared off with Ryan Lomberg. The fights lit a spark on the bench even though the game stayed tied until the third period, when the Lightning pulled ahead. Head Coach Jon Cooper and Charles-Edouard DAstous talk about the team effort, Brandon Hagel calls it a character win, and Sam OReilly explains how the fights built momentum. The Bolts won it shorthanded. Erik Cernak (upper body) and Anthony Cirelli (lower body) are both day-to-day. Yanni Gourde had a planned night off for body maintenance as he works back from hip surgery. By the numbers: Dennis Hildeby made 28 saves to improve to 4-0-1 with Tampa Bay. Hes just the second goalie in franchise history to earn a standings point in each of his first five starts. The other is Sean Burke, who went 3-0-2 in 2005. Brandon Hagel had two goals and an assist for the second straight night. Hes only the fourth Lightning player with multiple goals on consecutive days, joining Nikita Kucherov, Simon Gagn and Denis Savard. Jake Guentzel marked his 700th career game with a goal and an assist, bringing him to 24 points this season. The Lightning are now in first place in the Atlantic Division with 28 points in 19 games. Theyre tied with Montreal but hold the tiebreaker. Up next, the Bolts open a six-game homestand Saturday night against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. ET. Its the first game in the Hometown Remix jerseys. Come early for the Thanksgiving Food Drive on Ford Thunder Alley benefiting Feeding Tampa Bay. You can watch on The Spot Tampa Bay Channel 66 and the Lightning app, or listen on 102.5 The Bone, with pregame coverage starting at 6:30. Also on the show: This Day in Lightning History (2022): Mikhail Sergachev became the only Lightning defenseman with four points in the first period of a game, in a 6-3 win over Washington. Happy birthday to goalie Mark Fitzpatrick (34 games in 1997-98) and defenseman Jason Garrison (212 games from 2014 to 2017), who scored the NHLs first-ever 3-on-3 overtime winner. Syracuse Crunch: Former Bolt Tyler Johnson heads into the Crunch Hall of Fame on December 5 with Ben Groulx and Vance Lederman. Hes the only Crunch player ever named AHL MVP. Syracuse hosts the Toronto Marlies tonight. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.