Tyler Johnson Leaves Game After Taking A Puck To The Face (Video)
Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson leaves the game on Sunday night against the Bruins in the third period at the TD Garden after taking a puck to the face.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had a pretty successful night in Boston tonight. The Lightning kicked off a back-to-back road series at the TD Garden tonight against the “big, bad” Boston Bruins. As just about everyone here in the Bolts Nation knows by now, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-1 thanks to a spectacular night for the Lightning’s power play unit.
While everyone here in the Sunshine State is cheering the Tampa Bay Lightning for taking sole possession of the 2nd place spot in the Atlantic Division after earning the two points tonight against the Bruins, not everything is well here in the Bolts Nation. In fact, in the final moments of the third period, there was a pretty large disturbance in the force; especially if your name is Tyler Johnson.
The Tampa Bay Lightning was playing the puck in the offensive zone. Tyler Johnson had the puck along the boards where was checked by Bruins center David Krejci. The puck went out in front of them following the hit. As both Johnson and Krejci tried to find their bearings after the collision, the puck comes flying along the boards and absolutely nails Tyler Johnson in the face.
As you can imagine, Johnson helplessly crashed to the ground with his gloves over his face. Unfortunately, with the speed of the shot, Johnson has no chance of avoiding the impending impact. While his visor may have eaten up some of the momentum, there was no denying Johnson took near the full force of the puck with his face.
Johnson remained down on the ice on his hands and knees for a couple of minutes before being attended to by Tampa Bay Lightning Head Athletic Trainer Tom Mulligan. As you can see in the video above, when Johnson removes his mask, what remained of his visor had a pool of blood welled inside the curve.
Slowly, but surely, Tyler Johnson made his way to his feet. Needless to say, there was a rather large pool of blood left behind on the ice. As Johnson made his way off the ice, he held a towel over his left eye while blood slowly dripped down his face. As you can imagine, Tyler Johnson didn’t make much of a stop at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s bench. Johnson immediately made his way back up the tunnel and down to the Lightning’s locker room. Sadly, the young Lightning center would be finished for the evening.
Thankfully, despite the bloodbath on the ice tonight, there is some good news coming out of Boston this evening. According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper said Johnson was cut by the puck, but that he seemed ok. This is definitely good news. While Tyler Johnson is more than likely leaving the TD Garden tonight with a hell of a headache, he should not miss any time because of the injury.
Next: Lightning Sparks A Beantown Beatdown Against Bruins
What were your thoughts about the Lightning’s performance tonight in Boston? Do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning can extend their win-streak to seven tomorrow night in Toronto? Let us know what you think in the comments below.