Johnson Resumes Solid Play In Avs Win

With the regular season nearing its end, it was a perfect time for Colorado Avalanche veteran defenseman Erik Johnson to return to the lineup and soar.
Johnson picked up right where he left off in the Avalanche's 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Pepsi Center on Sunday after missing four weeks with an upper-body injury.
"I was nervous, but I am nervous before every game honestly and I think if you aren't nervous, you shouldn't be playing," said Johnson. "I had butterflies like I do every game, but getting those first couple of hits out of the way early definitely helped, and it was just kind of easy from there after I got a couple good looks in to settle down. I got my feet under me, and I was happy with the way I played for the first game back."

He was injured early in the third period of Colorado's game versus the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 18 and missed the Avs' last 13 contests. In his return against Detroit, he played 19:52 and finished the outing with a plus-1 rating and two hits.
His first hit came on his first shift, just 13 seconds into the contest when Johnson checked Red Wings left wing Darren Helm into the boards.

"We knew he was close [to returning], we tried to pick a game [to] wait until he was fully ready and get a couple practices in," Bednar said of Johnson's return. "We haven't had many team practices but some small group stuff, get him some contact. When he felt confident that he was ready to go, he was going back in the lineup.
"You could see him first shift of the game, lays into a guy at the offensive zone blue line and the guy runs him back by our bench, and you had a pretty good idea that he was back and it wasn't going to be a problem for him coming out of that."
In the 13 outings without the 6-foot-4 D-man, Colorado went 7-2-4 to remain in the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Avs hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 86 points and are three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the third position in the Central Division and an automatic playoff berth.
"It would be a different scenario if I came back right now, and they hadn't [played] the way they had as far as getting points and collecting wins," said Johnson. "We are sitting in a playoff spot right now, so if we were five or six out it would be a little different. It would be harder, it would be weighing on me missing those games, but the guys played well. Managed to get some games to overtime and [Semyon Varlamov] played great and [Nathan MacKinnon] played great and just a good team effort all around. I am happy to get back and help anyway I can."
Colorado continues its push for the postseason on Tuesday at the Chicago Blackhawks.

MacKINNON CONTINUES TO STRIKE

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist versus Detroit to extend his point streak to 12 games. His streak is the longest by an Avalanche player since he had points in 13 straight contests during his rookie season of 2013-14.
His current streak is the second-longest active run in the league behind Winnipeg's Patrik Laine, who has registered a point in 14 consecutive games. MacKinnon has 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) during the stretch and is now tied for second in the league with 89 points (38 goals, 51 assists) this season.

The 22-year-old center recorded three or more points for the 13th time this season, the most by an Avalanche player since Peter Forsberg did it 14 times in 2002-03 and the most by an NHL player this season.
The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native continues to pace the league in scoring at Pepsi Center with 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) in 34 contests, the highest by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic had 67 points on home ice in 2000-01.
"If he's on Montreal, Toronto he wins [the league MVP] for sure," Johnson said of MacKinnon. "I think he is No. 1 in the league in points per game. Where would we be without him? I don't know. He has got to be the front-runner in my opinion and it would be a crime if he didn't get it."

STREAKS EXTENDED

Tyson Barrie's third period goal extended his career-long point streak to 10 games, the longest by a defenseman in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). He has five goals and eight assists in the stretch and now has 50 points this campaign, making him just the fourth D-man in franchise history to produce two 50-point seasons.
His streak is the longest by an NHL defenseman in 2017-18 and the longest by a league blueliner since Philadelphia's Shayne Gostiesbehere registered a point in 15 straight games from Jan. 19-Feb. 20, 2016.

Forward Mikko Rantanen also continued his assist/point streak and has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in his last six outings. Rantanen has recorded 77 points this campaign, the most by a Colorado right wing since Milan Hejduk had 98 during the 2002-03 season.
Rantanen (five goals, 13 assists) is tied with MacKinnon (nine goals, nine assists) for the league lead in scoring for the month of March with 18 points.

KAMENEV ALSO BACK FROM INJURY

Rookie forward Vladislav Kamenev was recalled from a conditioning assignment with the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League on Saturday and played his 4th career NHL game on Sunday.
He was on the fourth line against Detroit, his first NHL game since he broke his arm in his first contest with the Avalanche on Nov. 16.
"I mean he had a pretty good game tonight, he has been out for so long and the guy doesn't have a lot of experience in the league," Bednar said of Kamenev. "He comes to us and he plays his first game and gets hurt and then he's out for months. We wanted to get him a couple games down in San Antonio… I wanted to get him in today because he just played three games down there. I don't want him sitting around too long before he goes in the lineup, I want to give him the best chance to succeed."
He centered a line with Gabriel Bourque and fellow rookie Alex Kerfoot and recorded 10:03 of ice time.

MORE NOTABLES

The Avalanche is 15-2-1 in its last 18 games at Pepsi Center and 25-9-2 on home ice overall this season. Its 52 points earned in the Mile High City are tied for the fifth most of any team in 2017-18.
Gabriel Landeskog finished with three points (one goals, two assists), his fifth performance with three or more points this season. He has recorded seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last three outings.
Nikita Zadorov registered seven hits for the second consecutive game. He now has 228 this season, which is an Avalanche single-season record for most hits by a defenseman and ranks third in the NHL in 2017-18.
Blake Comeau registered his third game-winning goal of the season and his sixth multi-point game of the campaign, his most since 2015-16 when he also had six.
The Avs scored five or more goals in a game for the 19th time this campaign, 13 of which have come at Pepsi Center.
Colorado finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill to extend its streak to 18 straight kills. It has allowed a league-low eight power-play goals at home and has the best penalty-killing unit overall in the league, with a 84.3 percent success rate.
The Avalanche improved to 5-4-2 in day games and 4-1-1 at home in afternoon affairs.