Andreas Johnsson has had a declining goal trend in the NHL in recent years.

In 2018–2019, he made 20, followed by 8 and 5 the following two.

That trend is now broken, as he poked in the season's fifth and sixth goals when New Jersey defeated Florida at home last night.

Florida - who have started the season strong - took the lead twice.

- You can see that they have a lot of self-confidence.

Not every player makes a move - but they hold the puck and get through a lot, and come with speed.

It was important for us to be able to match their skating, and I think we did well, says Andreas Johnsson.

- It started a bit swingy for us.

But I think we responded well, even if they got an early goal, we followed the match, the 26-year-old concludes.

The first equalizer, 1-1, came just over fifteen minutes into the match in powerplay.

Swedish colleague Jesper Bratt shot, and Johnsson was able to hit the rebound without major problems.

- The first goal is a bit of a failed play.

But I fight for the puck, play up to Bratt.

Then I'm a little lucky with the return that bounces straight on the blade, he says.

"More energy"

After a short period of New Jersey lead, Florida again managed to go up in the lead in the second period, where Gustav Forsling was noted for the season's tenth assist to Owen Tippett's lead goal.

Johnsson then signed the goal record again through the 3-3 equalizer, via a quick pass collaboration with Dawson Mercer, which included a wall pass via Johnsson's skate.

- It was nice of him to hold the puck and cool of him to fit.

Personally, I just tried to shoot as fast as possible.

After that, it was New Jersey for all the money, and the final result was eventually written all 7-3.

- The longer the match goes, the more energy we got.

We tried to take advantage of the fact that they played yesterday, and did well.

We had two goals in PP (powerplay) and were good in boxplay as well, it helps a lot, says Johnsson.

What the difference is for his own part compared to last season, he has a little hard to answer.

It's about the same system, the same coach and the same team - but with some nice additions.

But one difference is that he gets to play in the powerplay chain.

- We are a better team in general, I also feel that you get self-confidence from each other, an energy in the whole team.

I was very hungry for revenge from last year.

It's been a mix.

Stupid decisions

For New Jersey, it has been a victory in about every other game so far.

Johnsson says that one conclusion is that some stupid decisions are made when the players are tired.

- We are a young team, it goes a little up and down.

It's about learning to play smarter when you can't.

Not finding leaves all the time, without putting in the rim, or just putting up the puck, he says.

A big difference this year is that the matches are played in front of an audience - and that you meet teams outside your own division - compared to last year's closed, stripped-down season.

- It's fun that the fans have come back, it actually makes a damn difference.

Then it's more fun to meet other teams, and not the same eight times.

It was a strange season, but you had to get through it.

It's nice to be back to almost the ordinary, says Johnsson.