Avs' Johnson: Core players wanted to stay, help turn team around

The Colorado Avalanche have turned things around in a hurry.

Coming off an historically awful 2016-17, the Avs have reeled off nine wins in a row, currently sit in a Western Conference wild-card playoff spot, and are withing striking distance of third place in the ultra-competitive Central Division.

Following that ninth consecutive victory Saturday over the New York Rangers, defenseman Erik Johnson spoke about the commitment made by the team's core players to avoid a repeat performance of last year.

"The way things went last year, I think the easy thing to say would have been: 'It's not working here, let's go somewhere else, let's jump ship,'" Johnson said Saturday, per Rick Sadowski of NHL.com. "The character guys and core guys in this room said we want to figure things out here in Colorado, make it work."

Earlier this season, Colorado shook up the roster by coming through on a trade request filed last year by Matt Duchene, one made because he was tired of losing.

"I wanted to play playoff hockey," Duchene explained at the time of the trade, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. "I've got eight playoff games to my name right now and that's not where I want to be at this point of my career."

Heading into Saturday's game against Toronto, Duchene's Ottawa Senators sat second to last in the Eastern Conference, all but out of the playoff picture.

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