NHL: Columbus 5, Tampa Bay 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 9 (UPI) -- Nikolai Zherdev and Jiri Novotny scored third-period goals for Columbus Sunday in a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay, which lost its fifth straight game.

Zherdev took a pass from Dick Tarnstrom and fired the puck past Lightning goalie Mike Smith with 3:44 to play for the goal that turned out to be the game-winner. Novotny later put in an empty-netter.

Tampa Bay has dropped 10 of its last 11 games.

David Vyborny, Derek MacKenzie and Michael Peca also scored goals for the Blue Jackets and goalie Pascal Leclaire stopped 24 shots.

Jeff Halpern, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier scored for Tampa Bay.