Colorado Avalanche: The Sexiest Erik Johnson Goal Ever

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson scored the game-winning goal in overtime to put the icing on the playoff-clinching cake.

The Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff spot by taking last night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets to overtime. The team had started out down 2-0, but goals from first Tyson Barrie then Carl Soderberg knotted up the score.

And then Avs Nation stopped breathing for about 10 minutes of hockey. And we about had a heart attack when the team took a too many men penalty. The Avalanche had to kill a penalty in a tied game with just 1:30 left! Well, Colorado looked fit to do just that. So slowly, the clock wound down until there were just seconds left.

I can’t speak for every Avs fan, but here’s how one handled the last few seconds:

There’s so much emotion in that minute-and-a-half!

I was at the game. It was a mad scramble on the ice. The entire arena was on its collective feet watching that time clock wind down, willing it to wind down faster. And we screamed ourselves hoarse when it finally did!

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So, by the time the game went into overtime, our prayers had already been answered. We could watch our team lose in overtime like we had (I’m not going to say the number) times before. Colorado would still be playoff-bound.

That’s not what we wanted, though, and that sure as heck wasn’t what the players wanted! They decided to slay that overtime demon, and their captain of the blueline, Erik Johnson, was just the man to do it.

It’s fitting that our other alternate captain, Nathan MacKinnon, was the catalyst for that game-winning goal. MacK had the jets going all night. He didn’t just get some good looks — he certainly gave Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck nightmares with his speed and shot.

Nate put the jets on again in overtime, collecting the puck in the offensive zone and driving up the ice. Johnson, with his long stride, was just behind him (which is a testimony to just how fast MacKinnon skates).

As the puck passed the blueline, and with MacKinnon well-covered by Jets defenseman Tyler Myers, Nate passed to Erik. Johnson was uncovered, and in that moment I knew he was going to score.

I was not wrong:

I’ve been saying it since Erik Johnson was traded to the Colorado Avalanche — he has a bomb of a shot. He picked his corner, but I’m pretty sure it would have gone through Hellebuyck if needs be. You only need to see the look of ferocity on his face as he skates around to celebrate.

Normally, the three stars of the game are chosen before the third period is even up. That clearly wasn’t the case last night because EJ was the number-one star because of his overtime-winning goal.

He gave his post-game interview on the ice, and his excitement is all of us:

Let’s take a moment to celebrate captain Gabriel Landeskog dumping water on EJ.

The Colorado Avalanche have one more game, against the Sharks in San Jose. Historically, SAP Center has been a tough building for the Avs. However, they’ve slayed their overtime demon, and they’re coming in hot.

Might be time to slay just one more demon, n’est-ce pas?