<p>TAMPA, Fla. — Brayden Point scored twice, including the third-period winner, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied past the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 3-2 victory on Thursday.</p>
<p>Ross Colton and Point scored 1:06 apart in the third period to erase a one-goal deficit and snap a three-game losing streak for the Lightning.</p>
<p>Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 36 saves to pick up the win.</p>
<p>Eric Robinson and Zach Werenski scored for Columbus, which has one win in the past six games.</p>
<p>Elvis Merzlikins finished with 31 saves for the Blue Jackets.</p>
<p>Point scored the winner and his second of the game coming in on a 2-on-1 rush and as he tried to backhand a pass over to Tyler Johnson, the puck ramped off the stick of Columbus defenseman David Savard and into the net at 15:54.</p>
<p>Colton tied the game 66 seconds earlier with a wrist shot from the middle of the left circle, 3:54 after Robinson converted a breakaway for Columbus’ first lead of the game at 10:54.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay took the lead when Columbus was whistled for too many men on the ice while on the penalty kill to give the Lightning 62 seconds of a two-man advantage. Point cashed in with 15 seconds remaining on the 5-on-3 chance with a shot from the bottom of the left circle that powered its way through Merzlikins at 15:45.</p>
<p>The Blue Jackets pushed back in the second period and found the equalizer as Werenski cut across the top of the crease to swat in a rebound off his backhand for the defenseman’s fifth of the season at 9:04 of the second period.</p>
<p>MAC IS BACK</p>
<p>Tampa Bay D Ryan McDonagh returned to the lineup after missing the previous four games with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but the Lightning remain thin on defense. Erik Cernak missed his fourth consecutive game since taking a puck off the inside of his knee on March 22 in Dallas while Jan Rutta was placed on injured reserve after leaving Tuesday’s game against Columbus with a lower-body injury. Tampa Bay called up D Ben Thomas from the Syracuse Crunch and assigned him to the taxi squad.</p>
<p>GOALIE RUN</p>
<p>While Columbus G Joonas Korpisalo returned to the lineup after missing three games with a lower body injury, he dressed as the backup to Elvis Merzlikins, who made his fourth consecutive start, his longest stretch this season.</p>
<p>“These kind of games are going to help me go where I want to go, which is up,’’ Merzlikins said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Blue Jackets: At Florida Panthers on Saturday and Sunday.</p>
<p>Lightning: Host Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and Sunday.</p>
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