"He's dangerous on the power play, and that's where I noticed him a lot tonight," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the Devils' 5-2 victory on Monday night cut Tampa Bay's series lead to 2-1. "It was all special teams tonight, so in that regard, he had a positive impact."
Johansson, who was limited to 29 games this season by injury, got 5:11 of power play time. He also looked comfortable at even strength, skating on a line with Pat Maroon and Pavel Zacha.
In the first period, Johansson collected the puck near the Devils' net and undressed Alex Killorn on his way out of the zone, then skated all the way to the Tampa Bay end of the ice and fluttered a backhand pass to Maroon, just a little bit too close to his opposite winger's body to connect for a good shot. In the second, Johansson had his best scoring chance of the night, firing just wide off a cycle with Maroon and Travis Zajac.
"He adds skill and more puck possession as a guy we can rely on - a veteran guy who's been in the playoffs before and knows what it takes to win," said Maroon, who had never skated with Johansson in a game before Monday, having joined the Devils at the trade deadline. "I thought he played a really strong game tonight. He was all over the puck and our line had a couple of chances. I think we've just got to keep feeding off that. Hopefully, he felt good tonight. Talking to him, he seemed like he was into it. So, we're happy that he's in the lineup because he's a guy that we need in the lineup."
The Devils' need for Johansson is not just about him skating on the second line, but the way that his presence reverberates throughout the lineup.
"One of the reasons why we made the move in the offseason is what we felt he could bring to our team," Devils coach John Hynes said. "He brings a style of game that we want to have. He's got great puck poise. He gives us depth and skill in our lineup. When Johansson comes back, it gives you the ability to slot some guys into their roles where they really should be, and that makes us a stronger team."
With all he went through this season, the 27-year-old Swede wanted to make sure that he had multiple days of feeling his best before making the transition from skating with the Devils in practice to returning to the lineup. Johansson would not say exactly how many days that was, merely that it was "enough," but he knew that to jump back into the lineup during the playoffs, he would have to be at his best immediately.
After his first concussion, suffered on Nov. 1 in Vancouver when he collided with the boards, Johansson was out of the Devils' lineup for a month. It often is the case that subsequent concussions are more difficult to deal with, and that was indeed the case after Brad Marchand elbowed him in January.
"It's frustrating, because you never know how long it's going to be, you never know when you're going to feel better, and when you're going to play hockey again," Johansson said. "It was very frustrating, but not much you can do about it. It's not like most other injuries, where you can kind of get a timeframe and you know when it's healed. It's been a tricky one."
Johansson did have a bit of rust after being sidelined for nearly three months, "feeling it," as he said, in his legs and in his hands. Overall, though, Johansson's night was a success, as an important player contributing quality minutes in a game the Devils had to have, and did.
"I don't think any practice or anything can prepare you for that," Johansson said. "It's another level. It took a while to get into it, but it was a lot of fun being out there, a lot of fun being part of this win."
