Lightning's Potent Young Guns Will Be Eastern Conference Final's Deciding Factor

Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat have combined for 17 goals and 31 points in 13 postseason games. At five-on-five, the trio has 10 goals and 18 points.

Palat-Johnson-Kucherov has been one of the NHL's deadliest lines all season. They had 74 goals and 126 assists in the regular season, most of which came after coach Jon Cooper put them together toward the end of October.

Cooper had this to say earlier in the season about his young stars, per Chris Johnston of Sportsnet:

"

I've been with (Johnson) and Palat for four-plus years now, and I've watched their magic work from the American League to up here. The one thing is that (Kucherov) has kind of been that perfect fit for them. They play the game at an unbelievable pace, they have extremely high hockey I.Q., and they've been sort of dubbed 'The Triplets' because they kind of think alike everywhere on the ice.

"

Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning will draw all the attention during the 2015 Eastern Conference Final, but it's how the second line of Palat-Johnson-Kucherov fairs against the bottom-four defensemen of the Rangers that will have the biggest impact on who wins this series.

That's not a typo in the previous paragraph, either: Palat, Johnson and Kucherov comprise the Lightning's second line. They may produce like a first line, but they are deployed as a second line behind Stamkos and whichever two players are with him, and lately, that's been Alex Killorn and Ryan Callahan.

"They're all high, high-end skill," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said of the Johnson line last round, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. "Good determination, good defensively. Palat is a heavy body who gets turnovers all the time from behind, from the front. Kucherov shoots the puck off the pass as good as anyone. They're really good players."

Stamkos, a fire hydrant and a segway manned by a golden retriever, will be the primary assignment of Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, the Rangers' top shutdown pairing. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault hasn't cared all that much about matching forward lines, but he's almost guaranteed to use McDonagh and Girardi against Stamkos.

That's where the fun begins.

Based on the Rangers' pairings at practice Friday, we can get a feel for how they will game-plan for Palat, Johnson and Kucherov.

Vigneault essentially has two choices with his secondary pairings: Go with Marc Staal-Dan Boyle and Keith Yandle-Kevin Klein—the rational, balanced choice—or go with a steadier pairing of Staal-Klein to regularly combat the Lightning's second line, which would leave the Rangers' two weakest defensemen together. That's a potential disaster waiting to happen.

Imagine if Yandle-Boyle get trapped on the ice against Stamkos or Johnson. The pairings at practice are the only way Vigneault can go.

This has been the modus operandi for the Johnson line all postseason: Stamkos absorbs the tougher matchups and the second line eats lesser competition alive. That's been the case in the final results in the postseason, but what's been the five-on-five story for these seven men who will see a lot of each other during the next series?

Player	CF%	CF% rel	CorC%
Tyler Johnson	49.6	+2.0	50.1
Nikita Kucherov	51.4	+3.8	50.0
Ondrej Palat	50.0	+2.4	50.0
Marc Staal	44.1	-5.6	51.1
Dan Boyle	54.8	+5.1	51.3
Keith Yandle	54.4	+4.4	50.8
Kevin Klein	45.1	-4.6	50.3

Klein's numbers only cover the Rangers' seven-game series with the Capitals, as he missed the first round while recovering from a broken arm. The fact Klein was that far in the red when the Capitals don't have anything like the Johnson line behind their top line should be worrisome for the Rangers. The same could be said for Staal, though he had to face Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins during the first round.

Boyle and Yandle, despite their positive possession numbers, have been liabilities in their own zone. Boyle had his head wrecked twice in the Capitals series—once at the end of Game 1 and again during the third period of Game 7—so just how effective he will be if he plays remains to be seen. There's a reason he and Yandle aren't paired together often.

If the Stamkos line and McDonagh/Girardi pairing play to a stalemate—a likely outcome given the equal talent levels on either side—the production of the Johnson line will make or break the Lightning, much like it has during the first two rounds.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.