CLEVELAND — My, oh my, have times changed for the Columbus Blue Jackets since the start of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Blue Jackets had the fourth-worst power play success rate throughout the regular season, scoring on only 15.4 percent of their opportunities with the man advantage, but they have converted four of their eight attempts with a Tampa Bay Lightning player serving time in the penalty box.
“I think we’re just playing good hockey, playing with confidence, moving the puck well and getting the shots through with good screens,” right winger Oliver Bjorkstrand said following Sunday’s 3-1 win in Game 3 in Columbus. “We’re on the puck, so we’ve just got to keep going with that.”
In the Game 3 win over the Lightning, which gave Columbus a commanding 3-0 lead over the NHL’s top regular-season team, the Blue Jackets doubled the advantage to 2-0 when Bjorkstrand recorded a power play goal 8:25 into the second period.
After taking a pass from 19-year-old rookie center Alexandre Texier at the blue line, defenseman Seth Jones sailed a tape-to-tape pass to Bjorkstrand, and from just outside the faceoff circle, he roofed a wrist shot high blocker side and into the net for his first tally of the playoffs.
“(That) power-play goal, I think Tex makes a really good play on the entry, holds the puck, he ends up spreading it,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said following the Game 3 win.
“We had a good screen and Bjork-ie ended up burying it. That group there has had really good puck movement. Really, both groups have had good puck movement and we’ve had some people around the net.”
Along with the success of the power play unit has come solid execution from the penalty killing unit.
The Blue Jackets have not allowed the Lightning to score on the power play, largely because the players have kept their composure despite an increased level of physicality. In fact, forward Josh Anderson tallied a short-handed goal in a come-from-behind effort in a Game 1 win over the Lightning in Tampa Bay.
With Jones having a key role in the success of the power play, Bjorkstrand sees no reason for the Blue Jackets to change up their strategy with the man advantage in Game 4 and the balance of the postseason.
“Jonesy’s good at moving the puck up there and we have good screens in front,” Bjorkstrand said. “It’s easy for us to get the shots through, and we’ve just got to keep doing that, those simple things on the power play.”
