COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Tampa Bay Lightning ended up on the wrong side of NHL history, getting swept in the first round of the playoffs after one of the best regular seasons ever.
The Columbus Blue Jackets capped a stunning sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy winners with a 7-3 victory Tuesday night. Tampa Bay became the first team in the expansion era, which began in 1967-68, to go winless in the first round of the playoffs after leading the league in points during the regular season.
And what a season it was. Tampa Bay tied the NHL record for wins with 62 and amassed 128 points, fourth in NHL history.
The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, didn’t clinch the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot until the 81st game. But they outplayed the Lightning with a smothering forecheck and stellar goaltending by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Columbus won its first-ever playoff series in its fifth try and advances to play the winner of the Boston-Toronto series, which the Maple Leafs lead 2-1.
“It was a great series,” wing Josh Anderson said. “That’s the way we want to play.”
Bobrovsky carried the day again for the Blue Jackets, finishing with 30 saves.
With Columbus clinging to a 4-3 lead in the third period, Tampa Bay had wrested the momentum from the Blue Jackets but still couldn’t solve Bobrovsky. The Blue Jackets’ final three goals came late in the period after the Lightning had pulled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra skater.
Rookie Alexandre Texier, who was brought over after his season ended in the Finnish league, scored his first NHL goal and later added one of the empty-netters. Pierre Luc-Dubois had a goal and a pair of assists.
A dozen players scored for Columbus in the series.
Steven Stamkos, Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay, which never led in this elimination game. The Lightning tied it at 3 on Point’s goal late in the second period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand scored 54 seconds later to put Columbus ahead for good.
ISLANDERS 3, PENGUINS 1: Jordan Eberle scored for the fourth straight game, Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots and the Islanders finished off Sidney Crosby and host Pittsburgh in Game 4 to pull off a stunning sweep.
Josh Bailey set up Brock Nelson’s go-ahead goal late in the first period and added an empty-net score with 38 seconds remaining as the Islanders easily captured the franchise’s second playoff series victory in 26 years.
The Islanders trailed for less than five minutes across four games against the Penguins, whose 13th straight postseason appearance ended quietly. Pittsburgh managed just six goals in the series, including Jake Guentzel’s first of the postseason 35 seconds into the game.
It wasn’t nearly enough to stop the Islanders. New York allowed the fewest goals in the league during the regular season, and then backed it up with 12-plus periods of sound hockey that’s quickly become their calling card under first-year coach Barry Trotz, who led the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup last season.
NOTES
KINGS: Todd McLellan was hired as the new head coach of the Kings, taking over a two-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise that slumped to the NHL’s second-worst record this season.
McLellan replaces Willie Desjardins, who wasn’t retained after he replaced John Stevens early in the season and did little to halt the Kings’ precipitous slide. Although much of the core talent remains from the Kings’ championship-winning teams in 2012 and 2014, Los Angeles finished 31-42-9 in its worst season since 2007-08.
The 51-year-old McLellan has ample head coaching experience with two of the Kings’ Pacific Division rivals. He spent seven years as the coach of the San Jose Sharks, making six playoff appearances from 2009-14 and reaching two Western Conference finals while winning the 2009 Presidents’ Trophy. The job was his first NHL head coaching gig after serving as an assistant with Detroit’s Stanley Cup-winning team in 2008.
HURRICANES: Rookie Andrei Svechnikov is in the concussion protocol after Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin punched him, sending his head crashing onto the ice.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour said he assumes Svechnikov, who was wearing a helmet, will miss Game 4 of the best-of-seven series Thursday night. He added he’s “going to be real careful” and is “certainly not going to rush him back.”
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