SUNRISE — The Lightning finished their exhibition schedule Saturday night with a 4-2 win over the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena, ending their preseason with a 5-2-0 record.
But far more important than those wins was the optimism the team built with its uncertain goaltending situation after losing Andrei Vasilevskiy for the first two months of the regular season following back surgery.
In Vasilevskiy’s absence, the Lightning will lean on Jonas Johansson, 28, who has 35 games of NHL experience, and Matt Tomkins, 29, who has yet to play in a regular-season NHL game. The two were brought in to play reserve roles but were thrown into action in what might be one of the most pressure-filled situations in hockey, replacing the best goalie in the world.
Johansson struggled in Buffalo, Colorado and Florida before the Avalanche found something with him in his second stint with them last season. He signed with the Lightning as a free agent in the offseason and has done everything possible in three preseason games to earn the confidence of the locker room and front office.
“He looks calm in there,” defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said after Saturday’s game, which Johansson started and finished with 27 saves. “I don’t feel stressed with him back there, and that’s a good sign.
“I’m really surprised because in the camp those two guys let a lot of goals in,” Sergachev said, smiling. “I wasn’t too pumped, but then they started playing games and I saw the work ethic they put in, and they played really well. And that’s great for us, and I hope they keep it going.”
After recording shutouts in his first two Lightning preseason starts, stopping 67 shots, Johansson allowed two goals in the first 17:33 Saturday before stopping the final 18 shots he faced.
Johansson was tested, especially in a second period that saw him face 11 shots on goal and five high-danger scoring chances. His save on Zac Dalpe’s breakaway, reaching out to deflect the puck with his glove, was the highlight of the period.
“He’s been awesome,” said forward Brandon Hagel, whose shorthanded goal with 7:32 left in the second was the winner. “Obviously, losing Vasy, he is probably one of the biggest parts of our hockey team. And for [Johansson] to put the weight on his shoulders and say, ‘I’m going to take this job moving forward,’ he’s done a hell of a job to show that he’s capable of that. I think everyone in this room is really happy for him.”
Coach Jon Cooper hasn’t named the starter for Tuesday’s regular-season opener against the Predators at Amalie Arena, but it appears a given to be Johansson.
“The one thing for me is, he just looks comfortable in there,” Cooper said. “And you can tell on our bench, we’re pretty comfortable with either one of those guys in there. The good sign for me is that [Johansson is] not playing an uneasy game. And that’s a good sign for him.”
Ultimately, each goaltender’s success will depend on the defense played in front of him. And with a new defensive scheme in place, there will be growing pains, as was seen in the penultimate preseason game Thursday, a 6-3 loss to the Panthers in which Tomkins played and faced 52 shots. But the Lightning’s final period of the preseason, in which they allowed just six shots on goal, was a good one on which to go into the regular season.
“You marry those two games together and one game was a shooting gallery and [Saturday] we kept a lot of stuff outside,” Cooper said. “When they got their chances, [Johansson] was there for us. So it’s not so taxing on the goalie when they’re not seeing 50 shots.
“That third period [Saturday], we started to look like a team. All the things you’re going to have to do in the regular season, we started doing. When you talk about the last thing that’s fresh in your head going into a game, that was the period I want to be fresh in our head. So overall pretty happy with the way things played out.”
The Lightning, at 26 players, will have to trim their roster to 23 by Monday. Their roster crunch has been made even tighter because they need to carry Vasilevskiy as a third goaltender on opening night in order to gain a long-term injury exemption during his absence.
They got one final look at new forward Waltteri Merela, a free-agent addition from Finland. Merela assisted on Tanner Jeannot’s opening goal, digging the puck out of the corner and picking up the secondary assist. He ended the preseason with two goals, two assists and plus-3.
“This kid’s gotten better with every game,” Cooper said. “He looks more comfortable out there. The big thing is, you look at the puck battles and he wins them. … When he’s got a big body, you have to be able to use it, and he does [listed as 6 feet 2, 196 pounds]. So he’s definitely going to make decisions tough on us.”
