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Lightning's Johnson out of All-Star Game with injury

 
Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson (9) smiles while on the ice against the Buffalo Sabres during first period action at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Friday evening (01/09/15).
Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson (9) smiles while on the ice against the Buffalo Sabres during first period action at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Friday evening (01/09/15).
Published Jan. 25, 2015

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lightning C Tyler Johnson was ruled out of today's All-Star Game because of a lower-body injury that also caused him to miss the skills competition Saturday.

Johnson, 24, a first time All-Star, suffered a lower-body injury against the Flyers on Jan. 12 and missed the Jan. 13 against the Bruins. He played the final three games before the break.

Johnson, eighth in the NHL in scoring with 48 points and first on the Lightning, is eligible to play Tuesday against the Hurricanes if he is healthy because he showed up for All-Star activities before pulling out. He said before heading to Columbus that he would rather miss the All-Star Game than a regular-season game if his health became an issue.

Drouin a skills winner: Lightning rookie Jonathan Drouin won the fastest skater competition in the skills event, beating Senators LW Mike Hoffman in a head-to-head race in 13.103 seconds, the fastest time among eight competitors. Predators D Shea Weber fired the hardest shot, 108.5 mph, .3 off the record set by the Bruins' Zdeno Chara in 2012. Lightning C Steven Stamkos competed in the event and had a shot of 98.8 mph, third-best in the eight-player field.

World Cup returns: The World Cup of Hockey will return in 2016, and the NHL said it intends to host the event every four years after that. The 2016 event will have eight teams, four representing countries — the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Finland — and two made up of multinational players. One of those two teams will be North American players 23 and younger, the other European players whose countries aren't otherwise represented. All the games will be played in Toronto in September, overlapping with training camps.

Outdoor games set: The Bruins and Canadiens will play in next season's Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL's Patriots, the league said. Two other outdoor games also will be played: Wild-Blackhawks at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Feb. 21 and Avalanche-Red Wings at Denver's Coors Field, home of MLB's Rockies, on Feb. 27.

Times staff writer Joe Smith contributed to this report.