You Won't Find Many Clutch Saves More Impressive Than Jonas Johansson's Soul-Crushing Stop On The Senators

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. This has to be the save of the year, right? Jonas Johansson straight-up STONED the Sens, denying them a would-be equalizer to preserve a 5-4 victory in Ottawa.

The reigning Stanley Cup champions still boast a deep roster full of talent, but they've been bitten brutally by the injury bug this season. That depth is serving Colorado well. They still managed five goals like it was nothing on the second leg of a back-to-back. Even without the likes of studly forwards in Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog, the Avs can produce a lot of offensive horsepower.

Following a 20-17-3 start, Colorado has picked it up of late, including four straight wins. Getting a regulation "W" on the road with an unheralded goalie who was making his 26th career NHL start is a damn good result any way you slice it. 

To zoom in more on Johansson for a second, how in the hell did he stop this puck!?!? Not only is this a tense atmosphere with playoff implications hanging in the balance, but it was already a 4-on-3 man advantage for Ottawa. Then, the Senators pulled their goalie to go 5-on-3. They had all the room in the world to operate, and nicely utilized that space till the bitter end for two golden scoring chances that Johansson turned aside in rapid succession.

This screenshot is more than 1.5 seconds after he made that first save. Look how freaking far away he is from where Alex DeBrincat's quick redirect attempt will come from.

Seriously. WTF? You can, like, barely see him at all. The final shot makes contact with Johannson's right pad with 7.2 seconds left. 

Our guy slid outside the entire crease to get that first one-timer. Then, when the wild ricochet of a rebound kicked sideways, Johansson had so much ice to cover to even be near position to make that last stop. He stopped his momentum on a dime, exploded toward the far side of the net, and juuuuuust got his pad on it. All in the matter of about three quarters of a second.

Hope that wasn't too granular of a breakdown. When you really think of it in such small time segments, it only makes Johannson's robbery of Ottawa all the more mind-bending. I became entranced by this thing upon repeat viewings. The first reaction was a literal yell of, "OH!!!!!" 

Take a damn bow, Jonas Johansson. Kick save and a BEAUTY.

Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok