BLOG: Johnsson Trending Up

Andreas Johnsson was brought in this offseason by the Devils to be an offensive spark. However, through seven games in the black and red, he has just one assist and no goals.
But there could be signs that he's trending very much in the right direction. On Thursday night, Head Coach Lindy Ruff deployed Johnsson on the top line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, rewarding his recent play and perhaps trying to spark his offense.
He had said the previous game was Johnsson's best to date, but Thursday was another step in the right direction.
"He's skating really well," said Ruff. "He's got himself in a position to create opportunities. Probably had two of our best opportunities [Thursday]. The shot that went into Provorov's, shin pads on an empty net. Another one was not in an odd-numbered rush situation where he shot blocker side. And I think he had a third one where Hart came across on the entire play. So the opportunities are there. But I think first it starts with his skating. I think he's finally caught up.
"I think he was one of the players that was a little bit behind, whether it was conditioning, whether it was practice time, or whether it was speed of the game. Whatever that was. But, you know, when I said that was probably his best game before, last night was probably even better."