City goalkeeper Johnson saved two Portland spot-kicks at a rainswept Providence Park in Portland to set up a four-2 shootout win for New York.
Johnson's early saves exceeded Alex Callens the danger to drill the winning spot-kick beyond Portland's Steve Clark.
"We said before the shoot-out 'Embrace the instant'," Johnson said afterwards. "I simply wanted to live gift and do what I should to assist the crew".
"We stepped up in a massive way. I changed into capable of shop a couple and the boys buried the rest."
Major League Soccer's championship game had long gone to consequences after completing 1-1 after extra time.
Earlier, Portland grabbed a debatable equalizer within the very last seconds of the very last minute of stoppage time to extend the competition into more-time.
New York City gave the look to be just seconds far from their first MLS championship after Valentin Castellanos's forty first-minute header gave them a deserved lead.
But with the seconds ticking down, Portland poured ahead looking for an equalizer.
Having controlled the competition for lengthy intervals, nerves seemed to get the better of City, who did not clear their traces well because the Timbers pressed.
Finally, the pressure advised when a speculative header into the location from Colombian ahead Yimmi Chara prompted panic within the City defence.
