Ryan Johansen Finds Twine and Alexandar Georgiev Makes Save of the Year Candidate

Colorado collected their 13th win in the last 14 home contests and continued to improve on their impressive home record. They’re number one in the league at home thanks to their 3-1 over the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite dropping five of six on the road recently, the Avs moved within two points of the Stars for first place in the Central Division to keep things in perspective.

It was yet another comeback win for Colorado – now their 17th of the year – but three unanswered goals, a fortunate high-sticking call to negate a goal-against, and Ryan Johansen’s contributions led them to victory.

Nathan MacKinnon also earned an assist with 28 seconds remaining to extend his season-opening home point-streak to 27 games. 

Ryan Johansen Awakens

After not having scored since December 29th, Ryan Johansen found the back of the net again – twice.

With two goals, he earned his 13th of the season and 22nd point in 57 games. His production went dry through January with just three points and two points in February before his tallies tonight.

“He played hard again tonight,” said Jared Bednar. “There’s just a little bit more competitive spirit in his game here recently. The team’s been digging in, he’s a veteran player. It looks different for everybody, that competitive spirit, but he’s been working hard and doing what he can and he gets rewarded for some of that work here tonight.”

Over the last course of games, Johansen’s usage has varied on the fourth and third line. While on the third line with Joel Kiviranta and Zach Parise, Johansen found some success.

His first goal came early in the second period. It was opportunistic and tangible proof that good things happen when he goes to the net.

Devon Toews and Jack Johnson moved the puck out high at the blueline. Johnson sent a shot on net and Johansen swiftly collected the rebound and slipped it backdoor to tie the game.

For his second of the night, Johnson dumped the puck in and Bowen Byram went straight to the corner and battled it out. With the help of Kiviranta, the puck was released to Zach Parise along the wall and Parise sent it to Johansen at the point. Johansen wristed the puck from distance and rimmed it in off the top-corner. Ian Cole tried to get in Johansen’s shooting lane and screened Thatcher Demko instead.

Bednar praised Parise’s choice on the play postgame. He explained that they discussed when the Avs used the strong side low-to-high in the offensive zone, Vancouver deployed their wingers to cut them off. Parise implemented that feedback in his game instantly to work around it. He took a split second to turn, got it on his forehand, saw that the lane was taken, and used Johansen in the D2 spot instead.

“He’s a really intelligent player that’s sort of dialed into all areas of our game,” Bednar said. “You got to look at a guy’s history too and what he’s been doing in the league for years and what he’s been good at. Part of it is that he’s a really responsible defender. He understands the game. Whenever you’re seeing an intelligent player make that kind of adjustment on the fly in the game… it’s pretty impressive and that’s what he does. He pays attention to all the details on anything that can help in the game. That’s why he’s still playing.”

Alexandar Georgiev’s Save of the Year

In 47 games played, Alexandar Georgiev has had 22 contests above a 0.900 save percentage.

Georgiev out-dueled Thatcher Demko to move into a first-place tie with him in wins at 30.

He also joined Patrick Roy as the only goaltenders in Avalanche/Nordiques history to register  multiple 30-win seasons with the franchise.

He recorded a 0.960 over Vancouver with 24 saves on 25 shots. Vancouver had their legs under them in the first period and made a strong push in the third which kept Georgiev on his toes. A flurry of saves in the first period tested him early.

He stopped 11 of 12 high danger chances and one of his most memorable moments came near the midway mark in the third period.

A scramble at the netfront forced Georgiev to make an impressive save. Nils Hoglander snapped the puck on net amid the chaos and Georgiev had to glove it from behind – back totally turned while falling to the ground.

A late penalty gave a desperate Canucks team a powerplay chance. Thanks to a great penalty kill – which was perfect through two opportunities – Georgiev and the PK unit kept them in it.

Bednar said that Nolan Pratt made some tweaks to the kill. In the absence of PK forwards like Val Nichushkin and Logan O’Connor, Parise has stepped up in a big way.

Similarly, Josh Manson and Sam Girard continued to absorb big minutes and were the primary defensemen on the kill tonight for nearly three minutes each.

The PK unit held Vancouver to just two shots on net.

Top-Pair Thrives

Maybe it’s purely coincidence, maybe it’s a testament to the matchup against a strong Vancouver Canucks team with one of the best young defenders in the league, but Cale Makar absolutely thrived in tonight’s competitive environment.

After a lull in production alongside some unlikely defensive gaffes on the recent road trip, Makar had one of his best defensive games in a minute. Beyond that he flashed confidence, activating deep in the offensive zone.

He challenged Vancouver’s defense and accounted for the most attempts blocked of anyone with five shots stopped. The Canucks’ d-zone coverage focused on targeting Makar, and it’s no wonder why: he finished with the most scoring-chances-for in all situations of any Avs player, so he was a menace all night.

Together the Toews-Makar pairing recorded the best Corsi-for percentage of all players at even strength. Toews snagged an assist on Johansen’s first goal too.

Toews has three points in the last four games whereas Makar has been kept off the scoresheet through six games.

That’s still unusual for Makar, but his performance tonight teased that his confidence is back on track.