Blue Jackets at Lightning Preview

Columbus comes into this game having lost eight straight games, and the regular season can’t end soon enough for the Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets were in the playoff race for much of the season, but this has been a brutal stretch of hockey. 

Tampa Bay is trying to win the Central Division and give itself a great chance in the NHL Playoffs. The Lightning have gone just 4-4 in their last eight games and have slipped to third place in the division. 

The Columbus Blues Jackets are big underdogs in this matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday evening.

Columbus Can’t Keep it Close

During this long losing streak for the Blue Jackets, they haven’t exactly been putting a scare into any of their opponents. Most games have been decided by at least two goals, and that was the case on Friday night in Tampa Bay. 

The Blue Jackets are scoring just 2.37 goals per game this season while allowing 3.3 goals per game to their opponents. The lack of goal scoring appears to be affecting the Blue Jackets’ willingness to compete on the defensive end of the ice.

Oliver Bjorkstrand leads the team with 15 goals and 21 assists, and he is really the only player having a solid season for the Blue Jackets. Columbus is going to need to make some changes to this roster in the offseason to compete in 2021-22.

Lightning Explosive on Offense

The Lightning are still considered one of the top betting picks to win the Stanley Cup this season, even though they have struggled of late. Tampa Bay is scoring 3.3 goals per game while holding opponents to just 2.57 goals per night.

Tampa Bay has converted on nearly 25 percent of its attempts on the power play, and committing penalties against this team is a big issue. Defenseman Victor Hedman leads the team with 34 assists and 42 points, and he is arguably the best player at his position in the league. 

The Lightning have a much deeper team than the Blue Jackets, and they will look to push the pace and use that to their advantage on Sunday night. 

Going to Take Goals

If Columbus is going to end this miserable losing streak, then they are going to have to play a near-perfect game. Tampa Bay is a much more complete team, and at some point, they will simply wear down the Blue Jackets.

Columbus has struggled to score goals all season long, and that’s also going to be a problem on Sunday. It takes plenty of goals to beat the Lightning, and the Blue Jackets just haven’t proved they can get that done.

The Blue Jackets can give the Lightning a scare on Sunday, but it remains to be seen if they can score enough to win.