Johansson, Avs bounce back at Bell Centre

Ok, everybody, you can exhale.

After the Colorado Avalanche got absolutely pumped by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first game of a five-game road trip last night, they responded by playing a really solid road game to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 at the Bell Centre.

This wasn’t the best game they’ve played, this wasn’t a perfect response, they didn’t blow the Habs out, but they controlled play and took care of business. Perhaps most importantly, Jonas Johansson bounced back after an absolutely brutal performance last night, and only gave up one goal while making a number of key saves at important times throughout the game.

Just when we thought the injury issues were resolving themselves for the Avs, the last 24 hours saw them lose both Darcy Kuemper and Bowen Byram to upper-body injuries and put a real question mark on who is going to carry the load in net. That question mark was bolded and underlined after the disaster that was last night. 

There was quite a bit of skepticism this afternoon when head coach Jared Bednar announced that the team was going back to the goalie who had just given up eight goals the night before, and rightfully so. There were several legitimate reasons Bednar could have cited for starting AHL standout Justus Annunen and giving Johansson the night off, but I love his decision to go back to the big Swede.

Obviously it’s easy to say that *after* they won the game, but I thought it was a fantastic show of confidence in a guy who desperately needed it. There is a lot of data, trends, traditional thinking that coaches use to make so many game-time decisions, but as was pointed out on the DNVR Avalanche Pregame Show, sometimes you just have to go with your gut. Bednar listened to his gut and got to look like the genius.

Good for Bednar, and more importantly, good for Johansson. The Avs may continue to need him for a while with the uncertainty surrounding Darcy Kuemper, who Bednar implied after the game is dealing with a head injury.

Outside of the blue paint, the Avs played a really mature, poised game. Even at 2-1, this game never felt in jeopardy and Colorado felt like they were in steady control. They won battles on the wall, tracked pucks well, and made simple plays. All things of which they did none of against the Maple Leafs.

In my opinion, Logan O’Connor set the tone for all of that with an unbelievable shorthanded effort to set up the first goal of the game in the second period.

O’Connor chased down a Montreal defenseman and absolutely hounded him, won two separate battles, and then found a wide-open Valeri Nichushkin in the slot, who punched it home. Both O’Connor and Nichushkin continue to impress every single night.

The Avalanche also got a contribution from Cale Makar… again, and Andre Burakovsky finally broke through on an ugly one in front, and that’s huge for him right now. Gabe Landeskog did get the empty netter, but the Avs’ depth did a great job of picking up the slack as the top line continues to get back into form. That’s part of what made the Avs so dangerous last year, and it’s great to see it again.

A good bounce back performance from the Avs, from the crease out. They now sit 1-1 on the current road trip, which takes a little bit of pressure off as they head into the final three games of this road trip.

The Avs are in Ottawa on Saturday, before continuing on to Philadelphia and New York. This team will get more opportunities to overcome adversity as they will likely be without Bowen Byram and Darcy Kuemper for, at the very least, the majority of the remainder of this trip.

TAKEAWAYS

– The Avs defensemen played so much better tonight as a unit. Yes, even Kurtis MacDermid. They weren’t perfect, but they supported the front of the net so much better, and their zone exits were much more effective. The Avs’ D-corps is their X-factor, and you see why on nights like tonight.

– Nathan MacKinnon played in his second game since returning from injury, and he still looks like he’s shaking off the rust. The fun part about players like MacK is, even when they’re trying to get back up to speed, they’re still effective. Three points in two games for 29.

– Cale Makar now has 10 goals on the season. You obviously don’t know just how sustainable this type of run is for him, but he is on pace for one of the all-time seasons for scoring by a defenseman. 

– Jared Bednar said after the game that Darcy Kuemper could be “out for two days or it could be a month”, so that sounds to me like a concussion. Still speculation obviously, but when you hear a timeline like that, it typically means one thing. 

– With that, Pavel Francouz is now with the Colorado Eagles on a conditioning stint. Depending on how these games go for him, we could see him with the Avs as early as next week, which could take some pressure off of Johansson