It’s not easy being a back-up goaltender in the NHL. Especially for a team that loves to throw their starter out as much as the Tampa Bay Lightning do with Andrei Vasilevskiy. For Jonas Johansson, there is a lot of time to dwell on bad starts, and unfortunately, he’s had more than his share so far this season.
So, after the first shot from the Nashville Predators found the back of the net, there had to be a sense of “here we go again” floating through his mind. Instead, JoJo battled back, stopping 28 of the next 29 shots he faced, getting the Tampa Bay Lightning to overtime, where Brayden Point’s power-play goal proved to be the difference. Johansson outdueled Juuse Saros, who finished with 25 saves for the Predators.
With Andrei Vasilevskiy not even suited up for the game, the Lightning recalled Matt Tomkins to be the back-up for the afternoon tilt, but he remained planted on the bench as Johansson had his strongest start of the season as he picked up his second win of the season and lowered his goals against average more than a half-of-a-goal from 5.22 to 4.48 with his 28-save performance.
It wasn’t the smoothest of wins for the Lightning as they trailed early after Roman Josi scored from distance just 1:23 into the game (with old friend Steven Stamkos picking up the assist). They also had to deal with Anthony Cirelli missing part of the game after taking an Erik Cernak shot to the face. Cirelli returned to the game in the second period and tied the game up as he finished off a short-handed two-on-one that Luke Glendening set up. Cirelli tried to pass the puck back to Glendening, but the pass was knocked up into the air, and Cirelli batted it past Saros for his 10th goal of the season.
A few minutes later, his partner in crime, Brandon Hagel, matched him at the 10-goal mark when he wristed one that hit the stick of Josi and deflected past Saros. For Hagel, it was his 100th goal in a Lightning uniform, while Victor Hedman, who had the secondary assist, picked up his 588th career helper, matching Marty St. Louis for the most in franchise history.
It wasn’t all balloons and puppies in the second period as the Bolts played it without Nikita Kucherov. Josi also completed his quasi-hat trick when he cruised down the slot and wristed a shot past Johansson after the Lightning failed to clear the zone.
That would be it for scoring until overtime when Filip Forsberg was sent off for high-sticking. Luke Glendening won the face-off, and Kucherov, who had returned to play in the third, slipped around a defenseman along the boards. His pass ricocheted into the slot where Point gathered it in, made a nice backhand-to-forehand move, and roofed it over Saros, who had sprawled out in desperation to make the save. It was Point’s league-leading ninth power-play goal of the season and his eighth in his last six games.
As for Johansson, he did what the Lightning have always asked from their back-up netminders, he gave them a chance to win. For the first time this season, he posted fewer goals against (2.00) than expected goals against (2.29) and made several big stops throughout the night to get the Lightning to overtime.
“The breakaway at the end of the first, he had a huge save in the third,” Coach Jon Cooper said, “and that’s what you ask your goaltender to do—give you a chance to win, and JJ did that tonight.”
After a rocky start to his season, picking up a solid win has to be a gigantic boost to his confidence. Hopefully, he can hold onto that feeling in his next start, whenever that may be.
The Goals
Roman Josi (Steven Stamkos) 1-0 Predators
Anthony Cirelli (Luke Glendening) Short-handed, 1-1
Brandon Hagel (Darren Raddysh, Victor Hedman) 2-1 Lightning
Roman Josi (Mark Jankowski, Luke Evangelista) 2-2
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov) Power Play, 3-2 Lightning
The Charts
