Chad Johnson stopped 21 of 24 shots last night in his surprise start against Phoenix due to Henrik Lundqvist‘s bout with the flu. Johnson let it three goals on the Coyotes first seven shots, before settling down to stop the next seventeen.

“I found out in the morning that I’d be playing, so I had time to prepare,” the 23-year-old Johnson told Larry Brooks of the NY Post. “Then I gave up three in the first to put us in a hole-really, even 2-0 is a hole, but after that I just tried to play as big as I possibly could.”

John Tortorella was also impressed with how Johnson handled himself after the tough first:

“I thought it was positive the way he came back so well after struggling in the first,” coach John Tortorella said. “He stayed within himself, didn’t get into a panic mode and battled through it.

…That first goal was a little tough to see, as Johnson seemed to be a little on edge that Shane Doan split two Ranger defensemen. The second one, he was left alone on a three on one and Mikkel Boedker made a nice nifty move to beat Johnson. The third goal, a long point shot through tons of traffic that Johnson didn’t really have a chance on. He rebounded and kept the game relatively close as the Rangers tried to mount a comeback. He has a nice future ahead of him, it would just be much better if he could play the whole year in Hartford and not get shuffled around as much as he has.