NEW YORK — In a scoreless and rather drab game midway through the second period, the gruesome slow-motion replay on the Madison Square Garden scoreboard drew involuntary gasps and groans from the sellout crowd.
After a collision, the back skate of falling Rangers winger Rick Nash clipped Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson in the mouth. At the time, though, even in slow motion, it was hard to tell where Johnson was hit. Given the sharpness of skates and the perils involved, it looked a lot worse than it turned out to be — cuts to the lip and mouth.
“Luckily, I just ran into the skate,” Johnson said after the Avalanche closed out its 2-1 victory over the Rangers. “It didn’t come up and slice me. I was just a little bit worried. I knew I was cut and saw blood and didn’t know exactly where it was coming from — my face or my neck. … I had quite a bit of blood on my hands and my towel.”
Johnson exited the ice at the Zamboni door, got patchwork medical attention in the visiting team’s dressing room, then quickly returned, missing a shift or two, and was back in his pairing with Francois Beauchemin. After the game, Johnson was expecting to take stitches before leaving the building. “You get a couple of zips and you’re good,” he said.
Johnson’s resilience seemed to be part of the spark as Colorado received goals from Chris Wagner and Matt Duchene before the second period was over and went on to beat the Rangers.
Colorado hasn’t been tearing up the NHL — but this 4-2 stretch is progress, getting the Avs to 11-14-1 with a Saturday game at Minnesota remaining on the four-game trip.
With the Avalanche playing a solid game in front of him, Sem- yon Varlamov had 24 saves in the Colorado net and allowed only Oscar Lindberg’s rebound goal with 49.5 seconds left and the Rangers’ net empty.
At least for one night, Varlamov vindicated coach Patrick Roy’s determination to get the Russian back to the elite form he has shown in past seasons with the Avalanche — and to do it by using him rather than sitting him.
“We had a strong game,” Roy said. “Early in the season for some reason we were finding ways to lose those games, and right now we’re finding ways to win those hockey games. … I just feel that we’re managing our game better and better, and that pleased me a lot.”
Said Varlamov: “I have been struggling a little bit and I need to build up the confidence right now. Of course, I like that when we’re giving up only like 20, 25 shots a game. I feel we have been playing very solid defensively lately and that’s important.”
The Rangers were coming off their initial game at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center against their relocated rivals, the Islanders, on Wednesday. The Islanders won that game 2-1 in a shootout. Henrik Lundqvist had 36 saves for the Rangers, and he watched from the bench Thursday against the Avalanche as backup Antti Raanta made his seventh appearance of the season.
The problem for the Avalanche there is that Raanta, 26, came into the game with terrific numbers — a 4-1 record, 1.36 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage. But with the Rangers appearing flat for most of the night, the two goals 4:16 apart late in the second period were enough for the Avs.
Wagner, the Nov. 15 waiver pickup from the Anaheim Ducks who came to Colorado with a grand total of zero career NHL goals in 20 games, got his third for the Avalanche to open the scoring. Off a pass from Jack Skille, Wagner skated in and beat Raanta with a wrist shot. And it was 2-0 when Duchene took a pass from Gabe Landeskog on a 2-on-1 and scored his 14th of the season, from the right circle.
Footnote. With Alex Tanguay returning to the lineup after missing 11 games with a knee injury, Andreas Martinsen was the odd forward out for the Avalanche. Roy’s decision to make him a healthy scratch fouled up what would have been a big deal in Oslo, because the Rangers’ leading scorer, Mats Zuccarello, and Martinsen are the only Norwegians in the NHL. Defenseman Zach Redmond was the other healthy scratch.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
