The Blue Jackets pinch out the Lightning

Down three, Columbus finds fire in overtime

Three down, flickering

The Columbus Blue Jackets trailed by three goals before the first period was 12 minutes old. Brayden Point scored on a power play at 1:51. Brandon Hagel snapped one in 2:07 later. Cam Atkinson deflected home a third at 11:52. Columbus finished 29th of 32 last season and went dark on qualification night a year ago, and this quarterfinal looked ready to leave them cold. The Tampa Bay Lightning, 13th last season, had already doused the Devils and the Capitals. Columbus had snuffed the Maple Leafs and the Penguins.

A second period ablaze

Sean Monahan's snap shot at 13:35 of the first started the climb. Dmitri Voronkov scored 28 seconds into the second, and Kent Johnson tied it with a power-play slap shot at 1:55. Mitchell Chaffee answered on the backhand 0:16 later. Zach Werenski's wrister made it 4-4, Egor Chinakhov gave Columbus its first lead at 5:26, and Anthony Cirelli tied it again 0:52 after that.

Werenski closes the door

Johnson struck again at 10:39 of the third, short-handed, with a snap shot for a 6-5 lead. Conor Geekie tipped in a power-play equalizer 0:44 later. Overtime lasted 1:26. Werenski, a defenseman, wristed in the winner from Cole Sillinger and Ivan Provorov. That gave him two goals and five points, and Monahan had four. Jonas Johansson made 36 saves and still watched the Lightning's flame blow out. Seven flames still burn, and the Blue Jackets are one of them.