CHN+
Patience and maturity will define the Avalanche in series with Arizona

Patience. Maturity. Don’t get frustrated. That was the philosophy preached by Erik Johnson after the Avalanche pulled out a gritty Game 1 win over Arizona, on a night when the Coyotes defense and its netminder Darcy Kuemper looked damn-near impossible to beat.
“We just stuck with it. Sometimes it’s not pretty,” Johnson said after Wednesday’s game. “But we showed patience and maturity, and it could’ve been an easy one to get frustrated in, but I think we’re coming together as a team at the right time and hopefully we can continue on here.”
The tone for the series was set in Game 1. It’s going to be a grind-it-out kind of series from here on out, and don’t expect Colorado to dominate it either. Arizona sent a message to the Avalanche in Game 1: Sure, we may have just snuck in this thing, but we’re here now and we’re not going to make this thing easy for you.