NEW YORK — Tyler Johnson is carrying the Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoffs and making a name for himself.

The 24-year-old is becoming one of the front-runners to be the postseason MVP.

Johnson scored short-handed, even strength and on the power play in tallying the first hat trick in Lightning playoff history and Tampa Bay got its high-scoring offense in gear and evened the Eastern Conference finals with a 6-2 victory over the stumbling New York Rangers on Monday night.

“Oh, Tyler Johnson, the bigger the game, the better he plays,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s Tyler Johnson. It’s unreal to watch. He put the team on his back, and we all followed.”

Johnson has had four multiple goal-scoring games in the postseason and each has followed a Lightning loss. The previous player with four multiple goal-scoring games in the same postseason was Jamie Langenbrunner with the Devils in 2003, the league said.

“I think every morning I’m just happy to be here and I’m living my dream,” the 5-foot-8 undrafted center said. “So that’s what’s driving me is to try to be the best I can and play for my family. They sacrificed so much for me to be here, and I’m living my dream, so I want to keep living it as long as possible.”

Alex Killorn added two goals and Steven Stamkos had one and the Lightning bounced back from a crushing late loss on Saturday and made the Presidents’ Trophy winners pay for every slip, penalty and mistake.

Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan scored for the Rangers in the wide-open, penalty-filled matchup that ended New York’s run of playing in 15 straight playoffs games decided by one goal.

Henrik Lundqvist, who gave up at least five goals in two of three regular-season games against Tampa Bay this season, gave up six on just 26 shots.

The series shifts to Florida for games on Wednesday and Friday.

“The mindset was a little different for whatever reason,” Stamkos said. “In the first game, we weren’t there mentally, physically; we didn’t compete. When this group competes … we talked about it all year.”