Lightning's Tyler Johnson Clearly Playing Hurt After Ineffective Game 4

Tyler Johnson has been absolutely vital to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. He leads all players in the postseason in both goals and points, he’s tallied no fewer than four game-winning goals and he has centered his club’s top line for the duration of its playoff run.

So an injury to him is a serious concern, and there’s simply no doubt that he’s hurt.

The rumours go back to the start of the series, when TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested that part of the reason the Lightning briefly went away from their preferred setup of 11 forwards and seven defencemen was Johnson was hurt, and head coach Jon Cooper wanted some insurance:

At the time, Johnson denied that he was injured, instead saying his line just needed to play better.

“As the playoffs go on, it gets harder to score,” he told the Los Angeles Times’ Helene Elliott. “But our line, right now, we’re playing just average. We’re not doing as well as we should. We know that. So it’s time for us to step up.”

Denial notwithstanding, there’s more evidence.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Particularly compelling is the sudden change in the faceoff circle. In the last three games of this series, Johnson has taken just a single faceoff, while left wing Ondrej Palat has stepped into the dot on his behalf. Johnson took 1,103 draws during the regular season with a 48.7 percent win rate; Palat took just 35 and won only 10 of those.  

Cooper didn’t just decide one day that his team was so good it could afford to spot the Blackhawks a bunch of faceoffs; clearly there’s an injury issue involved here.

There’s also the simple eye test. Johnson struggled to take and make routine passes, bobbling the puck more like a fourth-line forward than the NHL’s playoff-scoring leader. Those problems are negatively affecting both his line and the Lightning power play.

In particular there was one power-play shift late in the first period, where Johnson was lined up on the right faceoff dot. On four different occasions, he was set up for a one-time shot; three times he didn’t take the shot at all, and the fourth time he had to settle the puck down before shooting, allowing Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford to get across his net and make a good save.

Watching Tampa Bay continually set Johnson up and Johnson continually struggle, Sportsnet’s Jim Hughson noted the likelihood of a hand injury, and his broadcast partner Craig Simpson wondered why the Lightning hadn’t switched Steven Stamkos into that power-play position:

"

I still don’t understand why it’s not Stamkos in that position where Johnson is. You mention the fact of him not being able to get the shot away.

The best chance came with him coming from the [faceoff] dot down [toward the net], and you have to believe that a Steven Stamkos one-timer might have been a little quicker than Johnson having to corral it to get a shot away.

"

Johnson’s even-strength play has been an issue for several games now. By my count in Game 3 he was on the ice for just two scoring chances for and four against; in Game 4 it was a single chance for and again four against. In Game 4 Johnson didn’t start a single shift in the defensive zone, yet Chicago had an 8-3 lead in shots when he was on the ice.

Both coaches clearly recognize the problem.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

On the Tampa Bay side, Cooper has significantly cut Johnson’s ice time. Johnson played 16 minutes at even strength in Game 1, where he may have been injured; he has played 11, 13 and 12 minutes at even strength, respectively, in the three games since.

On the Chicago side, coach Joel Quenneville has taken advantage of the control home ice gives him over the matchups (the home coach puts his lines on after the road coach) and fed Johnson a steady diet of Jonathan Toews; 55 percent of the time Johnson was on the ice, Toews was out there, too.

In just under seven minutes of head-to-head play between the two stars, the Blackhawks outshot the Lightning 5-0 and outscored them 1-0.

There is good news for the Lightning, however. Game 5 isn’t until Saturday, giving Johnson nearly 72 hours to rest and recuperate. Additionally, the series now shifts back to Tampa Bay, which should allow Cooper to go back to his preferred matchup for Toews (checking centre Cedric Paquette) and give Johnson a little more breathing room.

Tampa Bay will have to hope it’s enough. The Lightning lean heavily on their top-six forward for scoring, much more heavily than Chicago does, and without an effective Johnson, it’s going to be difficult to put the Blackhawks away.

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com. 

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.