Top 5 Avalanche Defensemen Moments from 2014-15

Erik Johnson’s Multi-Goal Night

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson scores twice against the St. Louis Blues. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Avalanche started out so slow at the beginning of the season. Even their top scorers were having difficulties getting goals.

That made defenseman Erik Johnson’s emergence as an offensive threat all the more welcome. Maybe it’s a little easier for a defenseman to score goals when they’re going in for everybody. Not so easy to score goals when they’re not even going in for your snipers.

During the mid-December game against the St. Louis Blues — Johnson’s former team, incidentally — EJ scored two goals.

Johnson got the scoring started late in the first on the power play. Left wing Gabriel Landeskog, who was not scoring goals at the time, did what he could — he checked a Blues skater into the boards. The puck squirted out right to Johnson. EJ would up and unleashed his bomb of a shot. St. Louis goalie Jake Allen never had a chance.

Johnson wasn’t done with his former team, though. Early on in the second he did it again — only this time it was an even-strength goal.

The Avalanche were down by one with EJ’s power play goal the only score. Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon picked up the puck in the neutral zone and drove into the Blues zone. He cut it and passed the puck to Johnson.

This was no slapshot. This time he drove toward the net, threaded the needle between Avs and Blues players, and beat Allen again:

This game marked the first time in Erik Johnson’s career that he’d had a multi-goal night.