Blue Jackets 2 - 4 Lightning
Final
  for this game

Lightning double up struggling Blue Jackets

Jan 25, 2012 - 5:34 AM Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis each recorded a goal and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2.

Mike Angelidis and Nate Thompson also scored for the Lightning, who enter the All-Star break with a season-high four-game win streak.

Mathieu Garon stopped 22-of-24 shots as Tampa has erased the memory of a seven-game losing skid to start the new calendar year.

Brett Lebda and Ryan Johansen tallied goals for Columbus, while Curtis Sanford made 27 saves in the Blue Jackets' fourth straight loss.

Angelidis struck first with 6:40 left in the first period with his first career goal on his very first shot with a backhander from a tight angle to the right of the net.

"That was exciting. It was a dream come true," Angelidis said about his goal. "I just wanted to come up here, create some energy, not be a defensive liability and contribute. It was unbelievable and made my whole night tonight."

But Columbus sent the game into the first intermission tied at one less than two minutes later on Lebda's wrister from the right circle that snuck under the crossbar.

The Lightning then took control of the game with a two-goal second period.

The first came off the stick of Lecavalier when he redirected a Bruno Gervais one-timer from the high slot past Sanford at the 8:19 mark, and the second was set up by Lecavalier when he fed a cross-ice pass from the right circle that went through two defenders to St. Louis at the left of the net, where he tipped it home with 3:04 left in the period.

Johansen brought the Blue Jackets within a goal 5:40 into the third period with a wrister from the left circle into the top-right corner.

That's as close as Columbus got, though, as Thompson gave the Lightning back their two-goal cushion at the 11:29 mark when he snuck a close shot to the right of the net through Sanford's pads.

"We battled to the end," Blue Jackets interim head coach Todd Richards said. "I still thought for a 60-minute game we could have and should have been better in certain areas."

Game Notes

Angelidis was recalled from Norfolk earlier Tuesday...The Lightning had not won four straight since a five-game winning streak from March 25-April 3 of last season...Tampa Bay is 13-7-1 as the host this year, while Columbus is just 5-17-3 as the guest...Columbus fell to 1-4-2 all-time in Tampa and have not recorded a win there since January 2, 2004.






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