<p>DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche acquired Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in a bid to shore up their shaky backup goaltending.</p>
<p>The Sabres received Colorado’s sixth-round draft pick in a trade agreed to a day earlier. The Sabres had to wait for COVID-19 testing results after the Boston Bruins, their most recent opponent, had four players enter the NHL protocol Friday. </p>
<p>Buffalo also had to wait for goaltender Michael Houser, who was signed Friday, to clear waivers to avoid having to call up a goalie from the minors.</p>
<p>The Avalanche have relied heavily on starter Philipp Grubauer this season, with backup Pavel Francouz sidelined by a lower-body injury. Hunter Miska has filled in for Grubauer at times, but he’s struggled and has a 4.16 goals-against average. </p>
<p>Miska was recently sent down to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League, with Adam Werner recalled from the Eagles. </p>
<p>Johansson is 0-5-1 in seven games for the Sabres this season, with a a 3.79 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage and has an overall record of 1-8-2. The 25-year-old was a third-round pick by Buffalo in 2014.</p>
<p>He received increased playing time with the Sabres after starter Linus Ullmark sustained a lower-body injury last month. Ullmark is expected to miss another few weeks.</p>
<p>Grubauer has been spectacular despite the heavy workload. He’s the first Colorado goaltender to start at least 20 of the team’s first 25 games since Semyon Varlamov in 2012-13.</p>
<p>The 29-year-old Grubauer already has 17 wins. His career-best is 18, which he’s had in each of the last two seasons. Grubauer’s 1.82 goals-against average is first among goaltenders. He also has four shutouts.</p>
<p>“It’s awesome to have that reliable goaltender in the back end there," forward Tyson Jost said. “He’s been great all year. We need that from him to continue throughout the year.” </p>
<p>Colorado’s defense has been a big help, too. The team has held opponents to under 30 shots in a franchise-record 18 straight games. In their last six contests, the Avalanche have outshot teams by a combined margin of 259-116.</p>
<p>The Avalanche are 18-8-2 halfway through the season. Their .679 percentage is the third-best mark at the midway point since the team moved to Denver.</p>
<p>The Sabres are in sell-off mode while in an 0-11-2 skid and in jeopardy of extending their playoff drought to an NHL-record matching 10th season. </p>
<p>This is expected to be the first of many trades for Buffalo. It comes three days since first-year general manager Kevyn Adams hinted a roster shakeup was coming after firing coach Ralph Krueger.</p>
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<p>AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report. </p>
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