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.

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“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.

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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.”