Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson returned to the ice last night in the Pepsi Center against the Buffalo Sabres. It was his first game back since December 3. And it was a good game.
Johnson got 17:35 minutes of playing time, which isn’t a lot for a defenseman. In fact, only Patrick Wiercioch logged fewer minutes. However, that was to be expected since Erik had been out for 11 weeks and 36 games recovering from a broken leg. Indeed, EJ himself stated he had expected to get between 16 and 18 minutes of playing time.
What’s noteworthy is those 17 minutes were important ones.