Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)”
As noted in the game story, Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson got his 11th goal of the season tonight in Colorado’s 5-2 win over Ottawa. That goal helped chase former Colorado goalie Craig Anderson in the second period, and it meant that at the halfway point of the season, Johnson already has surpassed his previous career high, the 10 goals he had for the Blues in 2009-10.
I wasn’t able to get his comments in the story, so here they are …
“That’s nice,” Johnson said. “For me, at least, I’d trade a personal achievement for a better team outlook. I wish we had a better record right now. But on a personal level, it’s nice to get your career high in goals and it’s been a couple of years since I hit double digits. To do it with Colorado means a lot. I just want to stay hungry and not get satisfied, and I know I won’t. I just want to keep it going.”
Johnson is playing in front of a hot goalie, Semyon Varlamov, and he actually had a giveaway that led to Bobby Ryan’s unassisted goal for the Senators. But there’s no question Johnson is playing well, perhaps having a career year.
“It’s kind of tough for him to get in the rhythm when he was out with his groin injury and he was kind of in and out,” Johnson said. “I know we’d like to limit the shots we gave up last game (against Chicago) and tonight was a little bit better. I know he likes seeing shots — maybe not that many, but he gets into a groove when he gets a lot of shots, sees the puck well and he’s out horse back there. Without him, we struggled a little bit, but getting him back, he’s going to be the key cog going forward.”
Johnson said this team is capable of closing strong and claiming a playoff spot. It would take a reprise, or close to it, of the Avs’ 56-point second half last season. The Avs closed out the first half with an 8-3-2 run.
“We can win on any given night, but at the same time, every team we’re playing, it’s a battle,” Johnson said. “There are no easy games in the league and for us, we’re starting to find our groove a little bit and hopefully this new year can keep the winning ways going. We’ve played some good hockey over the course of the last few weeks and we want to keep that going because it’s no fun sitting around and watching hockey in the springtime.”
When Patrick Roy started to hear a question about the race for a playoff spot in the West involving results from other games involving conference teams, the Avalanche coach joked: “Let’s not over-excited. Just focus on Saturday afternoon (against Dallas). We’re getting closer. Everybody’s seen it. But we’re a lot way. Let’s make sure we focus on our game and let’s get back playing better defensively, and let’s make sure we continue scoring goals. If we have a good mix, then I think we’re all going to be happy.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
