Avalanche lose two stars for the season

The good feelings from the Colorado Avalanche’s 5-0 beatdown of the hapless Chicago Blackhawks last night didn’t linger long as the news came down today that two key players will be missing from the Avalanche in the final week of the regular season.

Following the on-ice session, head coach Jared Bednar dropped the bomb of the day: Erik Johnson, with a fractured patella, will miss the next six weeks after he crashed awkwardly into the boards against the Flyers on Wednesday night and Semyon Varlamov, who has been nothing short of stellar this month in backstopping the Avalanche to the brink of the playoffs, is finished for the regular season with a lower-body injury. Bednar said Varlamov will meet with doctors again today to determine just what the issue is and how much time he will miss after he was plowed into by Tomas Jurco late in the third period last night.

The injuries come as a huge blow to the Avalanche as they lose arguably their number one defenseman and starting goaltender for the final week of the regular season at minimum. The news continues a tough season for Colorado on the injury side of things as they’ve lost Varlamov, Johnson, Jonathan Bernier, Nathan MacKinnon, and Tyson Barrie all for an extended time thanks to a variety of ailments.

While it puts a damper on the chase for the playoffs, the team still has work to do and isn’t interested in excuses for them not getting the job done. They begin a gauntlet of a final four games tomorrow night in Anaheim to take on the Ducks, whom they are currently trailing by one point in the playoff race. With a difficult back-to-back of Anaheim and Los Angeles on Monday, the Avalanche are prepared to stare down their own shaky history in southern California in order to collect the badly-needed points.

“We could have looked at the history going into the Minnesota and St. Louis road trip and packed it in,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to change that. Really at this point, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it’s just about getting the job done. It’s a good opportunity.”

That positive mindset was infectious in the locker room on Saturday afternoon as the team attempted to stay positive despite the disappointing news. Landeskog said they will use their recent success in beating Minnesota and St. Louis on the road to help propel them forward against the state of California.

“No doubt, that was a big road trip for us,” Landeskog said. “We knew going into the year that being .500 on the road was going to be key for us and here we are two games below .500. It’s a matter of us getting the points. I like the way we’ve been playing of late and, obviously, we haven’t gotten the results. The Philly game was frustrating but it’s good to see special teams get going last night and the power play getting the three goals.”

When asked if it helps the Avalanche will be playing against the teams they are competing directly with for the playoffs, Landeskog just smiled.

“It just makes it that much more fun and that much more exciting,” Landeskog told BSN Denver. “The games will be a playoff-like atmosphere in the way they’re going to be played and it just adds to the whole thing. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

As the season winds down to truly do-or-die situations, the experience Landeskog has from playing in a game seven can help him prepare his club for the emotional trials the final week will present.

“I think so,” Landeskog admitted of the game seven vibes surrounding every game. “Even the Philly game, the Chicago game last night had that kind of feel. There’s a little bit of nerves on the line. Guys are a little bit nervous and really don’t want to make that first push or mistake. I think last night was a good game for us to realize that for us to be successful we’ve got to play to win and can’t play not to lose and play uptight like that. We’ve got to let loose and have fun.”

The Avalanche have looked tight in recent games as the pressure has ramped up and last night’s barrage of goals against a porous Chicago defense was the kind of bloodletting they were looking for before taking on the Pacific Division’s California gauntlet. With the team entrenched in a two-month war to secure a playoff position, Landeskog feels their familiarity in this spot is only going to help them stay relaxed and continue to play their game.

“Honestly, that’s the way it’s been,” the captain state. “We’ve been playing playoff hockey for a couple months now. Coming down the stretch, we’ve got less games left but it’s still the same thing on the line. It’s winning every game that matters. That’s the way we’ve been approaching every game since the All-Star break.”

News and Notes

• Mark Barberio and Colin Wilson skated in non-contact jerseys at practice today. They participated in the entire on-ice session and will accompany the team on the road.
• Jonathan Bernier will be given Colorado’s net from here on out. With him an upcoming UFA in a terrible goaltender market, this will be Bernier’s final opportunity to potentially showcase himself as a player capable of staying full-time again. He begins this week by playing against two of his former teams, Anaheim and Los Angeles.
• Despite the sobering news of the Johnson and Varlamov injuries, the locker room remained upbeat. Blake Comeau and Matt Nieto were giving Bernier a hard time during his media interviews, which Comeau shouting “CLICHE” after each of Bernier’s answers. It will be interesting to see if the team can translate that looseness to the ice.