diff --git a/docker/blocks/mssql_tests/dashboard.json b/docker/blocks/mssql_tests/dashboard.json
index 64abe87eab1..c726aeda9a9 100644
--- a/docker/blocks/mssql_tests/dashboard.json
+++ b/docker/blocks/mssql_tests/dashboard.json
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@
   "gnetId": null,
   "graphTooltip": 0,
   "id": null,
-  "iteration": 1521458057789,
+  "iteration": 1521475806814,
   "links": [],
   "panels": [
     {
@@ -655,8 +655,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize') as time, \n  measurement as metric, \n  avg(valueOne) as valueOne, \n  avg(valueTwo) as valueTwo \nFROM\n  metric_values \nGROUP BY \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize'), \n  measurement \nORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize') as time, \n  measurement + ' - value one' as metric, \n  avg(valueOne) as valueOne\nFROM\n  metric_values \nGROUP BY \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize'), \n  measurement \nORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize') as time, \n  measurement + ' - value two' as metric, \n  avg(valueTwo) as valueTwo \nFROM\n  metric_values \nGROUP BY \n  $__timeGroup(time, '$summarize'), \n  measurement \nORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -819,8 +825,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -983,8 +995,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -1147,8 +1165,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -1309,8 +1333,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -1476,8 +1506,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -1643,8 +1679,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -1810,8 +1852,14 @@
         {
           "alias": "",
           "format": "time_series",
-          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
           "refId": "A"
+        },
+        {
+          "alias": "",
+          "format": "time_series",
+          "rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value two' as metric, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+          "refId": "B"
         }
       ],
       "thresholds": [],
@@ -2024,5 +2072,5 @@
   "timezone": "",
   "title": "Microsoft SQL Server Data Source Test",
   "uid": "GlAqcPgmz",
-  "version": 33
+  "version": 35
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql.go b/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql.go
index c872cc93570..192e1cdf0fd 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql.go
@@ -214,7 +214,6 @@ func (e MssqlQueryEndpoint) transformToTimeSeries(query *tsdb.Query, rows *core.
 	for rows.Next() {
 		var timestamp float64
 		var value null.Float
-		var metricColVal string
 		var metric string
 
 		if rowCount > rowLimit {
@@ -239,7 +238,7 @@ func (e MssqlQueryEndpoint) transformToTimeSeries(query *tsdb.Query, rows *core.
 
 		if metricIndex >= 0 {
 			if columnValue, ok := values[metricIndex].(string); ok == true {
-				metricColVal = columnValue
+				metric = columnValue
 			} else {
 				return fmt.Errorf("Column metric must be of type CHAR, VARCHAR, NCHAR or NVARCHAR. metric column name: %s type: %s but datatype is %T", columnNames[metricIndex], columnTypes[metricIndex].DatabaseTypeName(), values[metricIndex])
 			}
@@ -260,16 +259,8 @@ func (e MssqlQueryEndpoint) transformToTimeSeries(query *tsdb.Query, rows *core.
 			default:
 				return fmt.Errorf("Value column must have numeric datatype, column: %s type: %T value: %v", col, columnValue, columnValue)
 			}
-
-			// construct the metric name
-			// if there is more than 3 columns (more than one value) and there is
-			// a metric column, join them to make the metric name
 			if metricIndex == -1 {
 				metric = col
-			} else if len(columnNames) > 3 {
-				metric = metricColVal + " - " + col
-			} else {
-				metric = metricColVal
 			}
 
 			series, exist := pointsBySeries[metric]
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql_test.go
index f837245daa3..268f94a08a0 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/mssql/mssql_test.go
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ func TestMSSQL(t *testing.T) {
 					Queries: []*tsdb.Query{
 						{
 							Model: simplejson.NewFromAny(map[string]interface{}{
-								"rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement as metric, valueOne, valueTwo FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
+								"rawSql": "SELECT $__timeEpoch(time), measurement + ' - value one' as metric, valueOne FROM metric_values ORDER BY 1",
 								"format": "time_series",
 							}),
 							RefId: "A",
@@ -377,11 +377,9 @@ func TestMSSQL(t *testing.T) {
 				So(err, ShouldBeNil)
 				So(queryResult.Error, ShouldBeNil)
 
-				So(len(queryResult.Series), ShouldEqual, 4)
-				So(queryResult.Series[0].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric A - valueOne")
-				So(queryResult.Series[1].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric A - valueTwo")
-				So(queryResult.Series[2].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric B - valueOne")
-				So(queryResult.Series[3].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric B - valueTwo")
+				So(len(queryResult.Series), ShouldEqual, 2)
+				So(queryResult.Series[0].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric A - value one")
+				So(queryResult.Series[1].Name, ShouldEqual, "Metric B - value one")
 			})
 
 			Convey("When doing a metric query grouping by time should return correct series", func() {