Tyler Johnson the Unconventional Star of Unconventional Game 2 Win for Lightning

NEW YORK — There was nothing conventional about Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.

There was a three-on-five, short-handed breakaway goal and a four-on-three power-play goal. One of the hottest goaltenders in the league, Henrik Lundqvist, was beaten six times on 26 shots. A linesman had to leave the game with a knee injury. Heck, just the fact that a 60-minute postseason game in 2015 featured 11 power plays was enough to make this contest an oddity.

So it was only fitting that the unconventional Tyler Johnson was the star of this unconventional game. The undersized, undrafted (has that been written about recently?) burgeoning superstar had a hat trick and garbage-time assist for good measure as the Lightning drummed the Rangers 6-2 on Monday night to even the series at 1-1.

Johnson, one of the favorites for the Conn Smythe Trophy, now leads the league with 11 playoff goals and 16 points after carrying the team on his back through the first two periods of Game 2. He scored his team’s first three goals, including the game-opening three-on-five goal that will only go down as a four-on-five goal because the puck hit the net just as the first penalty expired.

After Chris Kreider answered for the Rangers, Johnson made it 2-1 with a four-on-three roof job over Lundqvist’s catching glove and 3-1 with a greasy goal midway through the second period off a wild scramble around Lundqvist’s net.

"It seems like whenever he's in a situation that's big like this, Madison Square Garden, conference final, he takes it to another level," said Tampa Bay center Alex Killorn, whose two third-period goals helped ice the game. "It seems like he was leading the way tonight, and we were kind of following. When you have a guy that can turn it up a notch like that, it's huge."

The ballad of the undersized hockey player isn’t new. Johnson is listed as 5’8”, but that’s only when he’s standing on the milk crate that gets him on the scary rides at Disney World. But during his three goals, he displayed everything a player his size needs to excel in to make it in the NHL.

Johnson used his speed to pull away from Martin St. Louis on the breakaway to score his first. Then he showed his deadly accuracy when he buried a wrist shot in the top corner of the net while staring down Lundqvist, his closest rival for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The third goal looked like chaos, but it revealed his anticipation and calm around the net; as the puck floated and bounced around crashing bodies, Johnson waited and waited and waited some more before tapping the puck just beyond Lundqvist’s outstretched leg. 

Size doesn’t matter when you can work magic with your eyes, feet and hands.

"He’s the complete package,” teammate Victor Hedman said. “He’s not just a playmaker and a goal scorer, he’s not afraid to get physical, he’s not afraid to get in front of the net. You see that third goal, he’s in front of the net battling for it, and it’s not a coincidence he got a stick on it. It’s just a lot of fun to watch. You sit on the bench and you see that, you’re really happy having him on your team.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said his team’s performance in Game 1 made him "want to vomit," per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. The only thing he was puking after Game 2 was praise for his team’s effort, which was spearheaded by Johnson.

“Our will and our determination were at a much higher level than it was in Game 1,” said Cooper, who went with the nontraditional lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen. “We were much more physical. Where in Game 1 we played not to get touched, and tonight we were getting dirty. I thought it just kind of changed the complexion for us.”

Johnson’s line with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat was the lone bright spot for Tampa Bay in Game 1, combining for the team’s only goal on the power play and at least holding its own on five-on-five. The trio has been dynamic all season and throughout the playoffs, something that’s become a bit of a necessity in the past two rounds as the secondary scoring has run dry.

Like any good, young hockey player, Johnson will tell you about how his teammates and linemates helped him do this and put him in a position to do that. But in Game 2, this wasn’t a group effort. If it was a group effort, Johnson was Beyonce and his linemates were the other Destiny’s Children.

“The way he did it tonight, scoring all three different ways, a lot of people talk about that line, but he did it on his own in a couple instances,” Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos said. “He’s been a huge player for us.” 

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The goal now for the Lightning is to replicate this in Game 3. Maybe not the game itself, but at least the effort, because Game 2 was downright weird.

“If winning a hockey game is what we drew up, I'll say that's how we drew it up,” Cooper said. 

Relying on one line and to not only survive a two-man disadvantage but also emerge from it ahead on the scoreboard probably isn’t the best blueprint for success. Ben Bishop had the shakiest 35-save performance you’ll ever see, and the Lightning had just 26 shots on net, the seventh straight time they have failed to reach 30 in a game.

“It’s the effort, it’s the game plan, it’s the structure,” Stamkos said. “We know two games are never going to be the same. But you can control your work ethic. We’ve said all year we have the speed and we have the skill. It’s when we compete. That’s when we’re a really good team.”

If they bring that same mentality—and Tyler Johnson—to Game 3, the Lightning could begin to take control of this series.