Colorado Avalanche: Erik Johnson Scores Sexiest Goal of the Season

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson scored just his second goal of the season against the Chicago Blackhawks — and it was a sexy one.

Even though the Colorado Avalanche have had a tough time scoring goals this year, there have been some noteworthy ones. A bright spot in an otherwise dismal game against the Minnesota Wild was Mikko Rantanen‘s breakaway goal:

That is a big kid with some speed. When he can stay on his feet, he showed in that goal that there’s no stopping him.

Gabriel Landeskog scored a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks that I really liked:

He persevered on the puck. Even though the first shot was stopped — Chicago Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling made a ridiculous 47 saves — Gabriel Landeskog refused to give up. Plus you just have to love a wrap-around spin-o-rama bank-off-the-goalie goal.

Normally when you talk about Matt Duchene goals, it’s all about the breakaways. (I’ve said it over and over — Duchene on a breakaway is a thing of beauty.) However, this goal is about the pure skill and athleticism of Matt:

That’s another example of a player not giving up.

Plus there was that time that Nathan MacKinnon practically broke hockey with his goal:

Very impressive indeed.

All of those goals are impressive. However, they’re all by goal scorers, by forwards.

Erik Johnson‘s goal against the Chicago Blackhawks was a different matter entirely.

First of all, Erik Johnson is a defenseman. And he’s a true defenseman, not an offensive-defenseman-really-a-rover like Tyson Barrie.

Secondly, Johnson, like every other Colorado Avalanche player, has been slumping. He only has 16 points in 43 games. That’s the worst season he’s had since the lockout year and second worst in his entire career.

Those 16 points encompass just two goals — and one of them was the sexiest goal of the Colorado Avalanche season:

Besides the fact that it was a two-way defenseman scoring the goal, this tally is similar to a couple of the others in that it shows an Avalanche player not giving up on the play.

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Plus, his skating is ridiculous. He makes every player on the ice look as if he’s standing still. For some reason they all seem to be just watching Johnson as if the big defenseman is one of his prize racehorses.

What’s more, there’s nothing Avs-related that I love more than an Erik Johnson coast-to-coast goal. There’s just something about the way he moves — like the condor that has earned him that nickname — that makes the ice look smaller. Literally it appears as if he only has to take a handful of strides to make it from behind his own goal line to the opponent goalie.

And what is that move with the puck? It’s just a nifty little wrister that seems to leave everyone on the ice — most especially the Chicago Blackhawks players — dumbfounded. Scott Darling is most assuredly dejected.

Oh, and I forgot to mention — it’s the game winner in overtime against one of the best teams in the NHL.

Next: Avs Get Boost from Johnson's Return

There have been few bright moments in this season for the Colorado Avalanche. However, Erik Johnson’s super-sexy coast-to-coast overtime winning goal is one of them.

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