The dam burst, and it was Tyler Johnson who burst it. Every one of the New York Rangers’ play-off games this season had been decided by one goal.
On Monday night, that ended as Johnson’s hat-trick led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-2 win, tying the Eastern Conference final at one game apiece.
The performance put Johnson in first place for play-off scoring with 11 goals and five assists; he ranks as a front-runner for play-off MVP, alongside Corey Perry and Patrick Kane. Johnson’s first goal came with two Tampa players in the penalty box.
The fact that Johnson was on the ice as part of the three-man short-handed unit tells you something about his all-around skills: the team’s leader on offence is also someone it turns to in a defensive pinch.
The Rangers’ Martin St Louis received a pass at the point but stumbled. Johnson raced off with a breakaway and put his own rebound past Henrik Lundqvist to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead and silence the Madison Square Garden crowd.
His next goal came on a power play when he faked a pass from the slot to freeze Lundqvist, then fired to the top corner. His third was a “greasy” goal at even strength where Johnson poked his stick through a tangle of legs and nudged the puck in off the post. The tenor of Monday’s game was different from Saturday’s opener, which the Rangers had won 2-1.
Game 1 seemed dominated by battles along the boards, with the Rangers swarming the puck and forcing turnovers. But in Game 2 the Lightning appeared intent on moving the puck to open ice more quickly, passing it along before the swarm could form.
In Game 1 the Rangers were plus-2 in turnovers and the Lightning minus-2.
That flipped in Game 2, with the Rangers minus-6 and the Lightning plus-5. Game 3 is tonight in Tampa.
rmckenzie@thenational.ae
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