Johnson scores twice for Lightning in victory against Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Tyler Johnson scored twice in a four-goal second period for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-1 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Saturday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves, and Gemel Smith had two assists in his first game of the season for the Lightning (10-2-1), who had a six-game winning streak ended by the Panthers on Thursday. The teams complete the three-game set Monday at Tampa Bay.
"I think last game we just really weren't ready to play," Johnson said of the 5-2 loss. "They took it to us. Credit to them, they played a great game but definitely wasn't our best. We talked about after that that we needed a lot more. We had a good practice [Friday] and were able to kind of put it to the ice today and the guys played well."

Frank Vatrano scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for the Panthers (8-2-2).
It was Bobrovsky's first loss in regulation this season (5-1-1). He allowed six goals for the second time in four starts, including a 6-5 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Feb. 4.
"We just didn't come to play tonight for the full 60 minutes," Florida defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. "We were in there for a bit, then the second period came. They just kept taking it to us. We were expecting a big push, and they're the Stanley Cup champions for a reason. We just weren't ready for it. Plain and simple, we didn't have the compete tonight. We look for a big bounce back the next game."
Tampa Bay played a second consecutive game without forward Steven Stamkos, who missed the game Thursday with a lower-body injury and was placed on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list Friday. Tampa Bay also was without forward Anthony Cirelli, who is week to week with an upper-body injury he sustained midway through the third period Thursday.
"We've got some key players out of the lineup that take up a lot of minutes, and guys have to step into their spots, and I thought the guys did an exceptional job," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Guys were moved up the lineup and they delivered. We need depth to be able to weather the storm and those guys did just that, and it's the reason why we won."
Johnson scored the Lightning's final two goals of the second period. His first came on a one-timer on a feed from Smith at 12:58 for a 3-0 lead, and the second on a backhand at 19:48 when he got a loose puck in traffic at the side of the net to make it 4-0.
Florida outshot Tampa Bay 11-4 in a the first period, with the Panthers failing to score on a four-minute power play after Victor Hedman was called for a high-sticking double minor against Aaron Ekblad at 9:33.
"It was huge," Cooper said. "And just the way we did it too. I don't think they had anything brewing for three-quarters of it, and then one stretch we got out there we're a little tired. But to get us through that, we didn't want to be chasing the game again, and when we did break down [Vasilevskiy] was there. But that was a huge kill."
Ondrej Palat gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 4:11 of the second period with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right circle. Mathieu Joseph made it 2-0 at 5:32 on a breakaway after blocking a shot just inside the Tampa Bay blue line.

Vatrano cut it to 4-1 at 9:47 of the third period with a wrist shot from the slot. Alexander Volkov scored his first NHL goal at 10:58 to increase the lead to 5-1. It was Volkov's 17th NHL game.
Barclay Goodrow scored on a breakaway at 15:45 for the 6-1 final.
"I think we lost our composure," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "We had a decent start to the game and had a couple of power-play looks. But the game got away from us at that point. I think we lost our composure not doing what was successful in the first game. They were a hungrier team."
NOTES: Florida forward Anthony Duclair played 14:47 after missing one game because of the NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Joseph's goal, his third in the past three games, was his fifth of the season. He scored four in 37 games last season. … Lightning forward Brayden Point had his seven-game point streak end (four goals, seven assists).