Columbus @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 18, 2019 ) Tampa Bay 5, Columbus 1

The Tampa Bay Lightning made history in the regular season with an NHL record-matching 62 wins and hope to continue their dominance in the playoffs when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Wednesday. The Lightning have won all six games against the Blue Jackets the last two seasons, outscoring them 17-3 in three victories in 2018-19, but they know little of that matters now.

“We haven’t played them in quite some time, and they’ve got so many more players now,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “Are they a more talented group? There’s no question. They’ve added some really good players. … The one thing I do know is they’re playing probably their best hockey of the year in this latter part of the season.” The Lightning boast three 40-goal scorers, including the NHL’s leading point producer in right wing Nikita Kucherov (128), and are expecting to have Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman back in the lineup after he missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. The Blue Jackets have yet to win a playoff series in their history, but coach John Tortorella took Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004 and they went 7-1-0 in their last eight games to make the postseason for the third straight year. “We are a team that feels really confident now that we’ve gotten in, with everything we’ve faced and gone through,” Columbus captain Nick Foligno told reporters. “We’ve grown as a team together. I think you’re just seeing this become more of a team. We’re excited about putting that to use in the playoffs.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, USA, Sportsnet360, TVA; FS Ohio (Columbus), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS: Center Matt Duchene and left wing Ryan Dzingel did not make major impacts on the scoresheet with 12 points each since being acquired at the trade deadline, but supported a capable offense. Left wing Artemi Panarin may be leaving as an unrestricted free agent after the playoffs, but he provided Columbus with a career-high 87 points, and right wing Cam Atkinson finished with a career-best 41 goals. The Blue Jackets are without two top-seven defensemen in Ryan Murray and Adam McQuaid because of upper-body injuries, but Seth Jones and Zach Werenski led the blue line with 90 points combined.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Andrei Vasilevskiy led the league with 39 wins despite missing a month to injury and the 24-year-old has performed well in the playoffs, going 15-11 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. Captain Steven Stamkos led the team with 45 goals - his most since scoring 60 in 2011-12 - while center Brayden Point and Kucherov added 41 apiece as Tampa Bay tallied 30 more times than any other team in the league. Hedman practiced the last two days while fellow defenseman Anton Stralman, who played two of the final three games after missing 12 with a lower-body injury, sat out both and is questionable.

OVERTIME

1. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky has won at least 37 games in three straight seasons, but is 5-14 with an .891 save percentage in 24 career playoff games.

2. Tampa Bay C Anthony Cirelli led all forwards in the league in short-handed playing time (222:39) and was tied for second with five short-handed goals.

3. Blue Jackets RW Oliver Bjorkstrand finished the regular season by scoring nine goals and setting up two others in his last 10 contests.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Blue Jackets 1