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Columbus Blue Jackets' resilience shines after losing early lead vs Tampa Bay Lightning
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- Columbus Blue Jackets' resilience shines after losing early lead vs Tampa Bay Lightning
The way things were going for the Blue Jackets , nobody could be blamed for thinking, "Here we go again," late in the first period Oct. 18 at Nationwide Arena.
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Kent Johnson , the Jackets coughed it up later in the first period on goals 3:40 apart. The second one, scored by Anthony Cirelli , was the eighth goal the Blue Jackets have allowed while killing penalties in just their fifth game.
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Here we go again, right?
Nope.
Oct 18, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan (23) looks to pass defended by Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
Keeping it 2-1 into the second, they faced another form of adversity that's bitten them in their first four games. Dmitri Voronkov had an apparent goal overturned for the second straight game that would have tied it 2-2, this time for a missed offsides call instead of him illegally directing the puck into the net with his chest.
Here we go again, right?
Wrong.
A short while later, Damon Severson tied it 2-2, and early in the third period the Blue Jackets went up 3-2 on Kirill Marchenko's winner. They won by that same score on his fifth goal in five games, putting an end to a two-game skid while reinforcing what the Jackets had preached for a week.
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Don't panic. Work harder. Win.
"Of course it's important," Marchenko said of winning. "We had a good practice (Oct. 17) and our team played really hard. We had a lot of (scoring) opportunities and it's a good (outcome) for us. We just need to grow up and take this confidence (into) the future."
Here are five more takeaways:
Kirill Marchenko makes Columbus Blue Jackets history vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Marchenko's goal made him the first player in franchise history to have five goals in a season's first five games. That's an impressive feat for a team that has deployed Rick Nash , Johnny Gaudreau , Cam Atkinson , Artemi Panarin and other gifted scorers in its 25 years of existence.
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The goal also moved Marchenko into 10thplace on the franchise's all-time rankings of goal scorers with 80 goals in his first 221 NHL games.
"He was on the ice to defend (late), and we need him to use his skill set in all different areas defensively," Evason said. "We want him to score goals, which he does, but we need him to continue to have that competitiveness, that two-way game (so) he can be on the ice in all situations, and he's done that and he's getting rewarded with goals, as well."
Columbus Blue Jackets have another goal overturned
Voronkov's apparent tying goal in the second period was the Blue Jackets' fourth overturned goal in their first five games, and one they challenged for goaltender interference Oct. 11 in Minnesota was unsuccessful.
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So, it's fair to say they're looking for a little more luck when it comes to disputed goals. All four would-be Blue Jackets goals were overturned with correct decisions, including Voronkov's against the Lightning.
The culprit this time was a puck that left the offensive zone before defenseman Jake Christiansen could corral it at the left point, which Tampa Bay 's video coaches caught. It would have been nice for lines official Travis Gawryletz to see it, too. Replays showed Gawryletz positioned close to the play, where he should have been, looking directly at it without blowing it dead.
If this were a rare occurrence, it wouldn't be worth mentioning the lines official, but it happens too often. Since the addition of replay challenges for offside in the NHL, lines officials have become much too lax with actually calling offside in real time.
They let close plays go, figuring video coaches will catch any violations, and the end result is often lost momentum for the team that has a goal removed after their celebration. The effect is even more dramatic for teams playing in their own arena, like the Blue Jackets. The building roared to life after Voronkov scored, the cannon went off and the game appeared to be tied ... until it wasn't.
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All of that should've been avoided had the play just been blown dead when the puck exited the Lightning zone with a nearby lines official looking right at it.
Kent Johnson of the Blue Jackets celebrates a goal against the Lightning on Oct. 18.
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson scores another beauty
Johnson celebrated his 23rdbirthday by adding another jaw-dropper to his career highlight mixtape, putting the Blue Jackets up 1-0 4:58 into the game.
After scoring a lacrosse-style "Michigan" goal in 2022 against the New York Islanders and scoring last season with a no-look Spin-O-Rama shot in Buffalo, Johnson's latest work of art was done with incredible hand-eye coordination.
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Going to the net, he scooped a puck that skittered through a defender's legs in front of the net and quickly lifted it over goalie Jonas Johansson's pad with a backhand. It was a beautiful goal, but more importantly it gave the Jackets an early lead on Johnson's first goal and point of the season.
Columbus Blue Jackets enforcer Mathieu Olivier logs first 2025-26 scrap
Mathieu Olivier, who is one of the NHL's toughest fighters, dropped his gloves for the first time this season at 3:10 of the first period. Olivier, who's 6 feet 1 and 232 pounds, squared off with Lightning forward Curtis Douglas , who's 6-9, 242 and has a long reach he used to hold Olivier off most of the bout.
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Olivier took a couple right hands to his helmet but landed a couple punches of his own before toppling his much taller opponent with an impressive takedown.
Score it a draw as a fight, but a win for the Blue Jackets in setting the right tone early in a game that ended in a melee after Lightning forward Brandon Hagel fired a puck at the Columbus net after the final horn.
Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves deflects the puck against the Lightning on Oct. 18.
Jet Greaves gives Columbus Blue Jackets another strong night
Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves has allowed just two goals in all three of his starts. He picked up his first win thanks to Marchenko's winner, and the Jackets helped him get it with a determined defensive effort all game.
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Greaves stopped 22 of 24 shots for a .917 save percentage, and his season numbers are even better.
After three games, he's sporting a 2.04 goals-against average and .928 save percentage with 77 saves on 83 shots. Among goalies who've played more than one game, Greaves ranks 13th in GAA and ninth in save percentage. The Blue Jackets will happily take those numbers to start Greaves' first full NHL season.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets use resilience to down Tampa Bay Lightning
