"Everyone is pretty in awe there," said Liam Foudy, who was on the ice for the goal.
"It's just an incredible play," captain Boone Jenner said.
"I had some guys holding their heads (in shock)," head coach Brad Larsen said.
As for the man himself, Johnson was certainly happy to score the goal -- which gave the Jackets a 3-2 lead in the second period -- but he wasn't exactly patting himself on the back. First off, Johnson has done it before, scoring lacrosse-style goals both in junior hockey with Trail of the BCHL and with Team Canada at last summer's World Junior Championships.
(Oddly, he never scored one while playing two seasons at the University of Michigan. "I'm pretty (mad) about that, but whatever," he said.)
And Johnson had tried it twice earlier this year, lifting the puck onto his stick behind the net but being unable to finish the play, with the puck falling off his stick before it found its rightful home in the back of the net.
The third time is the charm, as they say.
"It feels a lot better for sure (than missing it)," he said. "It's always nice to score, but especially that, so it felt good."
The Michigan goal -- so named because U-M's Mike Legg famously scored on the move during an NCAA tournament game on March 24, 1996, though minor leaguer Bill Armstrong had done it previously and actually taught it to Legg -- has become more and more common in the sport in recent years.
Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov scored the first NHL version back in 2019 and has since added a second, and Trevor Zegras not only has multiple such goals, he also had the Michigan-style alley-oop pass that Sonny Milano scored on with Anaheim in 2021.
But while the move has taken the sport by storm, only a handful still have been scored in an NHL game. Johnson's, in fact, was the first scored by a Blue Jackets player.
And while some old-school thinkers have expressed the opinion that it's a showboating move, Larsen had no qualms with Johnson's creative way to put the puck in the net.
"He is so creative, and it's the right call there," Larsen said. "He's tried to before in games and been close. It's not to be showy. If he tries to wrap it around on his backhand, (Islanders goalie Ilya) Sorokin is there and he bumps it out. The fact that he can do that full speed, it's an incredible goal. It really was. It's an amazing goal."
Johnson was the fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft by the Blue Jackets because of his high level of skill, and he can do things with the puck on his stick that most mortals cannot thanks to years of hard work and practice. He showed it through the entire play, as he first gathered the puck by darting between two Islanders and gathering the puck with a stick-lift of New York captain Anders Lee.
From there, Johnson went down the right-wing wall while looking for a shooting lane. When he didn't find anything, he toe-dragged the puck between his legs in the right circle to get away from defenseman Alexander Romanov and create separation as he darted behind the net.
Sorokin was still peering over his left post when Johnson started to lift the stick onto his blade, and in one silky smooth move the CBJ rookie picked up the puck and snuck it under the bar on the far side before the Islanders goalie could get there.
"Once I was skating around the net, I kind of knew..." Johnson said.
From there, Johnson quickly twirled his stick in celebration, then looked to the heavens, though he admits it's not the world's best celebration. Afterward, he said his reaction was natural, not any sort of relief that he had finally pulled off the Michigan move.
"I always want to score goals and score any way," he said. "I don't know if (scoring a Michigan) was the goal (this season), but I was really happy. I don't know that I was relieved at all. I just think I was really pumped. I don't really control what I do when I celly, I just black out or whatever."
Johnson's goal was the 15th of the year and gave him his 37th point, marks that are sixth and fourth, respectively, among NHL rookies this season. He's also now sixth all-time in goals and fifth in points among CBJ rookies in franchise history, and there are plenty of reasons to believe the 20-year-old is just scratching the surface of his considerable gifts.
The best, surely, seems yet to come. And when asked if he had checked a box by finally scoring a Michigan goal, he didn't seem to shy away from more highlights down the road.
"I don't know if it's checked off," he said with a smile. "I can still score again tomorrow maybe."
