TAMPA, Fla. -- The banged up Tampa Bay Lightning look to continue their winning ways while the Columbus Blue Jackets hope to get back on the winning track.The Lightning host the Blue Jackets at Amalie Arena on Friday having won five of the previous six games despite the loss of key personnel.Tampa Bay is without captain Steven Stamkos for up to four months following knee surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee that was performed on Nov. 16. Top defenseman Anton Stralman has been out since suffering an upper body injury on Nov. 12, and has missed six games.Along the way Tampa Bay has also been without Jonathan Drouin, Brian Boyle, Nikita Kucherov, Valtteri Filppula and now J.T. Brown for various bumps and bruises that have kept them out of games.Its tough, but thats why you have to have depth, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. This happens every year, so you just have to weather the storm and move on. But its a tough time for it because we have a lot of games in a short period of time. We need guys to step in with little practice time and keep going here.Tampa Bay used Erik Condra and Luke Witkowski in Wednesdays game against Philadelphia, both callups from the American Hockey League, while Cory Conacher was called up earlier in the season.The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, jumped out to the best start in franchise history with a 10-4-2 record through 16 games. But coming off a 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames at home, the first loss at Nationwide Arena since Oct. 15, the team was not pleased with their effort in getting shut out for the first time on the season.It seemed like we were a little off all night, Blue Jackets left wing Brandon Saad told the Columbus Dispatch. We did have chances, and if we made tape-to-tape passes we would have had goals there, but there were a couple miscues there. Weve got to get back to our identity.Part of that comes from head coach John Tortorella, who is in his first full season behind the bench since taking over in October of last season, replacing Todd Richards, who is now an assistant coach with the Lightning.If you get back to the grassroots of what makes you good, its our penetration, when were getting underneath teams, Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno told the Columbus Dispatch. Its getting behind the net and in front of the net, and we just didnt do enough of that.One subpar game does not take away from all the work Columbus has done in the early parts of the season, said Tortorella, who won a Stanley Cup while coaching the Lightning in 2004.We know we are a good team, we know we have put some good minutes in during this first quarter of the season, Tortorella said. Weve just got to try to get back to our game and see if we can get some momentum bacSk. Authentic NFL Jerseys Cheap . 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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- JaeSean Tate scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as Ohio State overcame cold shooting and some ugly play to beat North Carolina Central 69-63 Monday night.Ohio State (2-0) struggled for much of the game and let the Eagles hang around. The Buckeyes shot just 46.4 percent from the floor and were lucky to get away with the victory over the less-talented Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team.We just didnt come out ready to play today, Tate said.Fortunately for the Buckeyes, North Carolina Central (0-2) was sloppier, committing 20 turnovers and losing two players to fouls, including point guard Dajuan Graf.Patrick Cole carried the load for the NCCU with 26 points. Ron Trapps added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.Freshman center Micah Potter added 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line for the Buckeyes, and Keita Bates-Diop had nine.I didnt like a whole lot of what I saw tonight, Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.Ohio State led 31-29 after a slow start by both teams in the first half. The Buckeyes had a 12-0 run and led by as much as 21-11 with 9:17 left in the first, but allowed North Carolina Central to slowly climb back. The Eagles briefly had a lead until Tate hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half. They cut the lead to five with 40 seconds left.Hats off to Ohio State. They made some significant plays at significant time, NCCU coach LeVelle Moton said. I thought we did enough to win the basketball game.North Carolina Central led 32-31 with 18:46 to go in the game, but the Buckeyes slowly pulled away.ddddddddddddWeve got Providence next, and if we come out like that its not going to be pretty, Tate said . We know from last year that these early games count. We cant just be lackadaisical. We have to come out there and be the first team to punch the other in the mouth.Ohio State starting forward Marc Loving sat much of the first half after picking up two fouls in the first 1:15 of the game. He finished with three points.BIG PICTURENorth Carolina Central: If theres such thing as a moral victory, the Eagles got one by staying with the Buckeyes for most of the game. In the end, the best the Eagles got from the trip to Columbus was a chance to hone their game against a more-talented team. They nearly pulled off the upset.Ohio State: The Buckeyes were put on notice that this years version still needs a lot of work. Fortunately there are more tune-up games before conference play begins after Christmas.QUOTABLEWe werent physically and mentally very tough, Matta said. Obviously, we have to get that corrected.LYLE STRUGGLINGStarting point guard JaQuan Lyle sat most the second half Monday in favor of C.J. Jackson. He finished with five points. Lyle also sat most of the second half of last weeks win over Navy.UP NEXTNorth Carolina Central plays Wednesday at Western Carolina.Ohio State stays home to play Providence Thursday night. ' ' '