Tyler Johnson had just two shots in 17:43 minutes of ice time on Monday night in his first game back following a three week absence due to injury. The rust was expected after such an extensive layoff though, so Johnson can certainly be afforded something of a check mark on what amounted to a passed test on the road to recovery against the Montreal Canadiens. But the fact that Johnson, a diminutive player who has continued to deal with the repercussions of a broken wrist suffered late last season, made it through the game was just one part of that test.
That he came through unscathed and with his wrist feeling "100 times better," than it did early in the season, is the other. Johnson, speaking with Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday, said that the broken wrist he suffered early in the Lightning's Stanley Cup Final series against the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks has only now stopped bothering him, and only now "feels like [his] old wrist."
Johnson, a pivotal one-third of the vaunted "Triplets" line, along with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, was a driving force behind Tampa's run up to and through the NHL playoffs last season. Playing between Kucherov and Palat, Johnson potted 29 goals and collected 72 points in the regular season, adding 13 goals and 10 assists in 26 postseason games.
He also directly contributed to Kucherov's 64-point, 28-goal total in the 2014-15 regular season and his 22-point, 10-goal playoff run. And while Kucherov has maintained his scoring pace and high level of play this season, there's no denying that the Lightning have sorely missed Johnson's presence.
If he's back to his old self and can manage to stay healthy, that bodes well for the Lightning's chances of picking their way through the Eastern Conference field again this year.
