Johnson's quick strikes lift Lightning past Blackhawks
CHICAGO -- Tyler Johnson scored two goals in 30 seconds in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
Brian Boyle, Nikita Nesterov and Nikita Kucherov also scored. Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn contributed two assists apiece as Tampa Bay (22-22-5) snapped a three-game winless streak.
Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith scored for the Blackhawks. Chicago (30-15-5) lost for the first time in four games and dropped to 18-6-4 on home ice.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves to earn his first win since Dec. 31. Vasilevskiy entered the contest with six losses in a row.
Goaltender Corey Crawford turned aside 31 shots in the loss.
Tampa Bay scored three goals in less than four minutes during the third period.
Nesterov evened the score at 2 with a slap shot with 17:13 remaining. Boyle won a faceoff and slid the puck to Nesterov, who netted his first goal since Nov. 17 -- a span of 21 games.
Johnson gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 edge on a wrist shot from the right circle with 13:46 to go.
Thirty seconds later, Johnson scored again to put Tampa Bay on top by two goals. Johnson buried a one-timer in front of the net for his third multi-goal performance of the season and his first since Dec. 28. He ranks second on the team with 15 goals.
Kucherov finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:05 remaining.
Chicago opened the scoring on a perfectly executed give-and-go play with 9:37 left in the first period. Toews zipped a pass to right winger Richard Panik, who quickly returned a pass to Toews as he drove to the net. Toews tapped the puck across the goal line for his ninth goal of the season and his second in as many games.
Tampa Bay evened the score 1-1 with 1:25 remaining in the first period. Filppula forwarded a pass to Boyle, who split a pair of Blackhawks defenders and beat Crawford with a forehand shot for his 12th goal.
Chicago regained a 2-1 lead on a booming slap shot by Keith 1:26 into the second period. Keith fired a rising shot over Vasilevskiy's left shoulder for his third goal.
NOTES: Lightning D Jason Garrison missed his second consecutive game because of illness. ... Chicago activated C Marcus Kruger from injured reserve before Tuesday's game, but he was not in the lineup against Tampa Bay. The 26-year-old had two goals and eight assists in 39 games before an upper-body injury sidelined him Dec. 30. ... Lightning RW J.T. Brown returned from an upper-body injury to play for the first time since Jan. 7. Brown shared a line with LW Alex Killorn and C Tyler Johnson. ... Blackhawks RW Jordin Tootoo and D Michal Rozsival were healthy scratches. ... Lightning RW Erik Condra and D Luke Witkowski were healthy scratches.