Tampa Bay Lightning
TAMPA — Before the series began, Detroit coach Mike Babcock was asked to assess the Lightning. The first player he mentioned was Tyler Johnson.
Now you know why.
Tampa Bay’s 24-year-old center opened the scoring with a power-play goal 3:05 into the game, and his late second-period score on a breakaway made it 4-0 as the Lightning cruised to a 5-1 victory in Game 2.
Johnson led all players with six shots and he was a 5-foot-8 pest the entire game, crashing into the corners, wheeling out of his own zone with speed or pestering rookie G Petr Mrazek for the first two periods before Mrazek was summoned to the Detroit bench.