Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford deflects a puck as St. Louis Blues' Troy Brouwer, left, watches during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, April 15, 2016, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford deflects a puck as St. Louis Blues' Troy Brouwer, left, watches during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, April 15, 2016, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Tampa, Fla. — Tyler Johnson scored a pair of third-period goals Friday night, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.

Ben Bishop had 30 saves for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who took the first two games at home despite playing without injured leading goal scorer Steven Stamkos and defenseman Anton Stralman.

A bloody brawl involving several players capped this one, with 14 penalties called — including a game misconduct on Justin Abdelkader — with 54 seconds left.

Game 3 is Sunday in Detroit, where the Red Wings won both regular-season meetings between the teams.

Johnson put Tampa Bay ahead for good barely two minutes after Detroit’s Brad Richards made it 2-2 with a power-play goal. Nikita Kucherov and Brian Boyle also scored for the Lightning, who tacked on Alex Killorn’s empty-netter with 2:14 remaining.

Panthers 2, Islanders 1

Sunrise, Fla. — Roberto Luongo made 41 saves for his first playoff win in five years, and Florida evened its Eastern Conference quarterfinal series by beating New York.

Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for Florida, which salvaged a split in the series-opening back-to-back. Dmitry Kulikov added an empty-netter with 9.3 seconds left to clinch the win.

John Tavares scored with 3:33 left for New York, and Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots for the Islanders.

Game 3 is in Brooklyn on Sunday.

Blackhawks 3, Blues 2

St. Louis — Andrew Shaw stuffed home a rebound on a power play with 4:19 remaining, minutes after Chicago won a coach’s challenge to negate a goal, and the defending Stanley Cup champions pulled even with St. Louis in their Western Conference first-round series.

Corey Crawford had a strong game in net and Duncan Keith also scored for Chicago in his first game back from a six-game suspension for a dangerous high stick to Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle. Keith assisted on rookie Artemi Panarin’s clinching empty-net goal with 1:34 to go, and Patrick Kane also had two assists.

The series shifts to Chicago with Game 3 on Sunday.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Kevin Shattenkirk scored for St. Louis.

Ex-Habs Coach Demers Improving

Montreal — Former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is getting better every day and has begun eating after a recent stroke, his doctors said Friday.

The 71-year-old Demers, now a Canadian senator, still has some weakness on the right side and difficulty with speech, but is alert, said Dr. Angela Genge of the Montreal Neurological Institute.

“He smiles and says hello and puts out his hand and greets you,” Genge said. “He’s perfectly aware of who you are. Every day he is brighter and looking better, is interacting quite well, is very aware of his situation and, as of yesterday has begun to eat.”

Demers, who coached the Canadiens to their 1993 Stanley Cup victory, was rushed to hospital April 6.

Doctors hope to move him to a rehabilitation center early next week so he can begin intense therapy to regain his speech and movement. He has already begun some therapy.

“The sooner aggressive rehabilitation is started, the better people do,” Genge said. “So we’ve started daily speech therapy, we’re getting him to rehab.”

Demers also coached Quebec, Detroit, St. Louis and Tampa Bay in the NHL, and Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Quebec in the WHA. He was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by Stephen Harper, but quit the Conservative caucus several months ago to sit as an Independent in the Red Chamber.