COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets dumped the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-3 to complete what is arguably the most unlikely first-round playoff upset in the NHL’s modern history. This is the Blue Jackets’ 18th season in the NHL and the franchise hadn’t won a playoff series before sweeping the Stanley Cup favorite Lightning in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal. “This was the loudest crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” Columbus center Matt Duchene said. “You could feel how much the city needed and wanted this." The Lightning won 62 games, tying an NHL regular-season record, to capture the Presidents' Trophy. This is the first time a Presidents' Trophy winner was swept in the first round. Since 1987, the lower seed has won 37.5% of the series in the NHL’s opening round. But few saw this upset coming. The Lightning were the league’s best offensive team and the Blue Jackets outscored them 19-8. The Lightning were the NHL’s top penalty-killing team this season and the Blue Jackets were ranked 28th on the power play. But the Blue Jackets went 5-for-10 with the man advantage. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s league-leading power play only scored one goal against the Blue Jackets. WE GOT IT ALL WRONG: Redoing Stanley Cup picks More:How we screwed up in picking the Lightning to win the Stanley Cup More:Biggest postseason flops the past 30 years “They did a lot of good things and we didn’t have an answer for them,” said Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos, a 45-goal scorer who only had one in this playoff series. He was minus-8 in the four games. The Lightning had the Blue Jackets down 3-0 in the first period of the first game, but couldn’t close them out. That may have been the turning point, the Blue Jackets said. “We played with desperation the whole series even when we got the lead in the series, and that was a great recipe for success,” Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. The Blue Jackets have only been in the playoffs five times, and three of those appearances have come in the last three seasons. This year, the Blue Jackets made a bold decision at the trade deadline to keep potential unrestricted free agents Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin and then traded for Duchene and Ryan Dzingel. “It’s a hard league to gain respect and we are going about it the right way,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. Tortorella is a fiery, tough-talking, aggressive coach, and that’s how the Blue Jackets played against the Lightning. They gave the Lightning no time and space with the puck. “At the end of the day, we didn’t see this coming,” Lightning forward Ryan Callahan said. The Lightning will be compared to the 1970-71 Boston Bruins (taken down by the Montreal Canadiens with Ken Dryden in net) or the 1981-82 Edmonton Oilers (taken out by the Los Angeles Kings the season Wayne Gretzky registered 92 goals and 212 points). But those Bruins and Oilers series both went the distance. This result has similarity to the 2002-03 Detroit Red Wings being swept by the goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Giguere and play of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. However, the Ducks were a No. 7 seed and the Red Wings were not the Presidents' Trophy winner. Additionally, the Wings had won the Stanley Cup the season before – which this core group with the Lightning has yet to do. “It’s hard to pinpoint one thing (that went wrong),” Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “We hurt ourselves in a lot of different fashions.” Callahan said it was hard to “put into words” what happened in this series. He said the Lightning were outplayed in every game. After the Blue Jackets grabbed a 4-3 lead in Game 4, the Lightning pulled their goalie and gave up three empty-netters, making the final score even more embarrassing. The Lightning were so dominant this season that it will be difficult to decide what to change moving forward. Opinion:Fighting in the NHL is brutish and outdated, and needs to be banned The reasons why the Blue Jackets won the series: a relentless forecheck, tight defensive play, an improved power play and strong goaltending. Bobrovsky had a .940 save percentage coming into Game 4 and stopped 30-of-33 in the finale. The Lightning lost it because their top players didn’t step up until Game 4. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson only combined for two goals in the four games. That foursome scored 156 goals in the regular season. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy wasn’t at his best. Defenseman Victor Hedman was hurt. The Lightning weren’t the same team we saw throughout the season. Foligno said he was “thrilled” that the Blue Jackets were able to wrap up the series for the fans’ sake. He said there was a “lot of broken hearts” in the dressing room and in the city during past playoff series. “I’m thrilled for the people who had to grind through this (playoff series wins drought),” Tortorella said. Tortorella has been in his share of big games, even winning the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in seven games in 2004. He thought the atmosphere in the building in this closeout game was “unbelievable.” Foligno laughed, saying: “I’m afraid for the rafters next series.”<doc-sep>Following a historic year that saw the Lightning tie the NHL record of 62 wins in the regular season, Tampa Bay failed to win a single game in the playoffs. The Lightning were eliminated from the postseason on Tuesday night in Columbus, swept in four games by the Blue Jackets -- and in pretty emphatic fashion. After taking a 3-0 lead in Game 1, the Blue Jackets rallied back to win 4-3 and they never trailed again in the series. A dramatic 7-3 win on Tuesday closed out the series, making the Lightning the first team in NHL history to win the Presidents' Trophy and get swept in the first round. Tampa Bay's night got off to a rough start when 19-year-old Blue Jackets rookie Alexandre Texier scored his first career playoff goal just two-and-a-half minutes in to the game. Columbus' Pierre-Luc Dubois doubled the lead just over a minute later, once again forcing Tampa into a dire hole. The Lightning found some life later in the first period when Steven Stamkos finally scored his first goal of the series. That goal was made possible by an ugly turnover from Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, who coughed up the puck along the boards. Stamkos was able to dangle around a couple of would-be defenders before putting a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky. After the teams headed into first intermission with Columbus leading 2-1, the Blue Jackets were able to double the lead once again in the middle frame. They claimed a 3-1 lead when Jones ripped a shot from from the point six-and-a-half minutes into the second period -- a gut punch for a Tampa team that looked like it was gaining some momentum. But the Lightning refused to lay down and they were able to climb back into the game thanks to a goal from Cedric Paquette and, later, their first power play opportunity since Game 2. Brayden Point was able to convert on that power play opportunity, tying the score at 3-3 as the second period neared a close. However, that equalizer held for less than a minute, as Blue Jackets forward Oliver Bjorkstrand quickly reclaimed the lead when he chipped in a loose, rolling rebound in the Tampa Bay crease. That goal proved to be the game-winner and series-clincher, as the 4-3 lead held until the final minutes of regulation when Columbus added three empty-netters. It's an incredibly disappointing finish to the season for the Lightning -- a team that was dominant almost all season long, finished with a record-tying 128 points in the standings and entered the playoffs as the odds-on betting favorites. Tampa Bay and coach Jon Cooper will now have to face questions as to why things fell apart so quickly and in such drastic fashion. As for the Blue Jackets, they write an incredible underdog story about a team that elected to aggressively go all-in at the trade deadline, only to struggle in the second half and just barely sneak into the playoffs as a wild card. But that shaky finish means nothing now, as they successfully managed to plunge an emphatic dagger into the league's best team to earn the first playoff series win in franchise history.<doc-sep>The Columbus Blue Jackets have knocked the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the NHL playoffs. Not only did they bounce the Lightning, the Blue Jackets did it in epic fashion as they closed out the first round 4-0 sweep Tuesday night in a 7-3 win. Just how big of a win was this for Columbus? As of April 7th, they had the second worst Stanley Cup odds for teams in the playoffs at +3,000. Tampa Bay was first at +250. (RELATED: NHL Ref Takes Puck Straight To The Groin. The Video Will Twist Your Stomach) According to Darren Rovell, sportsbooks were offering odds up to 50/1 on a sweep, and nobody was even taking the Blue Jackets on those ridiculous numbers. PointsBet in New Jersey also said they offered odds on the Blue Jackets to sweep the Lightning. 50/1. No one bet it. — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 17, 2019 The Stanley Cup favorite Tampa Bay Lightning have been swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets. @DKSportsbook offered 40 to 1 odds at the beginning of the series of this happening. Not a single bettor thought it was worth even a penny. — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 17, 2019 The question really has to be asked at this point just how big of an upset this series was for both teams involved. Tampa Bay just got embarrassed on a national scale. The second worst team in the playoffs by the odds smoked them in four games. They were the favorite to win the Stanley Cup, and they didn’t even win a single game. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Columbus Blue Jackets (@bluejacketsnhl) on Apr 16, 2019 at 5:52pm PDT Is this as big of an upset as the Miracle on Ice? No, and it’s not even close to that, but it’s one of the biggest upsets in recent sports history. I can’t even think of the last time the heavy favorite in a sport got swept by such a large underdog. I don’t care if you love hockey or not. What the Blue Jackets pulled off is impressive as all hell, and everybody without their team in it should be cheering for them. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Columbus Blue Jackets (@bluejacketsnhl) on Apr 16, 2019 at 5:08pm PDT Major props to everybody in Columbus. They’ll now play the winner of Boston and the Maple Leafs. As for Tampa Bay, they might want to do some serious soul searching. Their squad this year will go down as one of the most embarrassing postseason teams of all-time.<doc-sep>The Tampa Bay Lightning won 62 games during the regular season and finished with 128 points, 21 points clear of any other NHL team this season. Their 62 wins tied the 1995-96 Red Wings for the most in a regular season in NHL history and their 128 points were a mere four points shy of the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens for the best season in NHL history (though six additional points from shootouts were something not available in an NHL era that included ties). And just like that … they’re gone. Eliminated. And in a dominant, embarrassing fashion by a team they owned during the regular season. The Lightning faced the Blue Jackets three times in 2018-19 and beat them by a combined margin of 17-3, including 9-1 in their final two meetings. Not only did Tampa dominate Columbus in the regular season, but the Blue Jackets had never won a playoff series in franchise history prior to this year. The Blue Jackets had five postseason wins before 2019 … before pulling off one of the best series upsets of all time. Here’s all the gambling history that Columbus made: Wait … Tampa Was How Big of a Favorite? Tampa Bay entered the series against Columbus a -425 favorite to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals ($425 wager would have won you $100). The last time a team was favored to win an NHL playoff series at a price higher than -400 was all the way back in 2010, when the Pittsburgh Penguins were -430 series favorites against the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens upset the Penguins in seven games after falling behind three times in the series (down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2). The craziest part of Montreal’s upset? The Canadiens were coming off one of the biggest upsets in NHL playoff history after taking down the top-seed Capitals in the first round. Washington was an astounding -645 series favorites against Montreal, when the Canadiens pushed the Caps to seven games, beating them 2-1 in Game 7 in Washington. The History Of An Upset Since the Red Wings’ 1995-96 record-breaking season, when they won 62 games and were bounced in the Conference Finals by the Avalanche, there have now been 41 different playoff series where the series price for the favorite was higher than -400. Favorites are 30-11 in those series, but the underdog has won 20 of their last 30 games over the last five series with this high of a price. Of the 10 previous teams to pull off an upset since the 1996 playoffs, those teams actually went 6-4 in their next series, including six of the last seven teams winning their next series. The only exception? Those Canadiens in 2010, who were the last team to pull off this big of an upset. The Canadiens upset the Capitals (+420) and Penguins (+335) in consecutive rounds and then lost in the Conference Finals vs. Flyers in five games. Of those 10 teams to pull off an upset of this magnitude, only one swept the series like the Blue Jackets did against the Lightning: the 2003 Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who swept the Detroit Red Wings as +525 underdogs and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, before losing to the Devils. (All playoff series odds are via Sports Odds History)<doc-sep>
The Stanley Cup favorite Tampa Bay Lightning are on the verge of one of the worst implosions in pro sports history. The Lightning tied an NHL record with 62 regular-season wins and they may not win a single playoff game. The Columbus Blue Jackets, who finished 30 points behind the Lightning, beat them 3-1 Sunday to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal. The Blue Jackets can finish a sweep of the Lightning on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, CNBC). How unlikely is this? The Lightning were the NHL's top scoring team, boasted the league's best power play and penalty kill and had defeated the Blue Jackets three times in the regular season by a cumulative 17-3 score. Columbus also entered this postseason having never won a playoff series in the franchise's 18-season existence. Opinion:Three NHL teams adding new players, potential difference makers in playoffs More:Where have the Lightning's scorers gone? If the Lightning lose Tuesday, this will be like the Green Bay Packers going 15-1 in 2011 and then losing by 17 points to the New York Giants in their first playoff game. Or, the 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars, which went just 27-39-14, beating the Presidents' Trophy-winning Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round. Or, the 42-40 Golden State Warriors' upset over the 67-win Dallas Mavericks in 2007. This is why the massive upset is on the brink of happening: ► The Blue Jackets have elevated their game to a much higher level than they showed for much of the regular season. They have been hard to play against, denying time and space to Tampa Bay scorers. Columbus gave us a glimpse of this at the end of the season when it went 7-3-0 in the last 10. ► Among the players to elevate their game for the Blue Jackets is trade deadline acquisition Matt Duchene. He has two goals and five points in this series, and has been strong on faceoffs. ► Tampa Bay's best players haven't produced. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson, who combined for 156 goals, have no goals in the series. Johnson has the only point, an assist earned Sunday. The Lightning haven't played like the Lightning. Kucherov got himself suspended by the league for Game 3 for a boarding incident in Game 2. ► Coach John Tortorella has the Blue Jackets fired up. When he's motivating his teams in the playoffs, he brings the intensity. He demanded excellence from these Blue Jackets and they have given it to the Lightning. ► The Blue Jackets have stayed disciplined. They only gave the Lightning one power play opportunity in Game 3. The Lightning don't have a power play goal in the series. ► Columbus' power play, meanwhile, has found its form. After ranking 28th percentage-wise in the regular season, the Blue Jackets have gone 4-for-8 with the extra man in the series.