Updated on 06.29 | Published on 06.20
New York. Jonas Johansson has become a folk hero in Tampa.
He saved his first shutout of the season last night – against the Carolina Hurricanes themselves.
– Sometimes you get lucky and you manage to hold on, says the 28-year-old guest humbly after the 3-0 win.
Fans initially feared disaster was brewing when it became known that Tampa, in the absence of Andrei Vasilevskiy due to a back injury, would have to rely on the relatively unproven Jonas Johansson between starts for the first two months of the regular season.
But just a few weeks into the season, those same fans have completely fallen in love with Gävle’s “JJ.”
He has had one great game after another, and against home favorite Carolina at Amalie Arena last night, he stopped 32 shots and kept a clean sheet.
-Sometimes you get lucky and manage to stay close. But I think everyone on the team played a good game tonight,” he told the Lightning website afterward.
-We played hard and strong against a really qualified opponent.
He’s happy with coach John Cooper.
– Johansson was calm inside the penalty area and everyone worked hard. We took the initiative, expanded and survived. That’s what you want to do in this league.
On the other hand, the fellow in the other cabin, Rod Brind’Amour, saw nothing he liked at all.
-We have to find our way back to the hockey team we were good at in recent seasons. This year completely shines with its absence, murmurs say.
Victor Hedman headed in a shot that Brayden Point headed in to make it 1-0.
1/2Photograph: Chris O’Meara/AP