Lightning on verge of ousting Blue Jackets after Game 4 win

TORONTO (AP) Andrei Vasilevskiy had 28 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.

Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde each had a goal and an assist as the Lightning pushed the Blue Jackets to the verge of elimination after being swept by Columbus in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.

Game 5 is Wednesday.

Cam Atkinson scored for Columbus, and Joonas Korpisalo had 20 saves.

The Blue Jackets seemed to have recharged after running out of gas in the Game 3 loss. They got the first goal early in the first period, but it was waved off because Alexandre Texier was offside entering the zone.

Then the Lightning scored twice in the first five minutes of the second period.

They opened the scoring 16 seconds into the second when Goodrow chopped at the puck in traffic in front of Korpisalo and popped it over his blocker. Gourde made it 2-0 by redirecting a long shot by Kevin Shattenkirk at the 4:09 mark.

Less than two minutes later, Atkinson got credit for the Columbus goal when a long shot by Pierre-Luc Dubois pinballed between Atkinson and the goalie before going into the net. Vasilevskiy argued for goalie interference to no avail.

Columbus took a penalty for too many men on the ice with 1:07 left in the game, which interrupted its late 6-on-5 push.

NOTES: Tampa Bay is 0 for 9 on power plays in the series while Columbus is 2 for 14. ... Atkinson returned after being classified ''unfit to play'' in the past two games. Emil Bemstrom was a scratch. ... F Kevin Stenlund made his playoff debut for the Blue Jackets and skated in the top power-play group.

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