The first week of the regular season is in the books Avalanche fans. How are we feeling?
Yikes.
Weekly Recap:
Two games are in the books, and it has already been an absolute nightmare in the net for Colorado. Losing the opening game to the Vegas Golden Knights on the road 8 – 4, with those eight goals coming on just 21 shots. The Avalanche then returned home to Ball Arena, where Nathan MacKinnon was honored for winning both the Ted Lindsey and Hart trophies. The celebration of our MVP was spoiled, however, when the Columbus Blue Jackets dropped a hammer on starting goalie Alexander Georgiev. Old friend Jack Johnson came to town with Columbus and escaped with a 6 – 4 victory.
Storylines to follow:
For a Stanley Cup contender starting your season with two losses would be bad, but two losses in which you scored four goals in each is much worse. Frustration boiled over for the Avalanche stars. Mikko Rantanen scored a hat-trick in Vegas but was overheard on a hot microphone as the losing Avalanche left the ice screaming an expletive. Then, after a dreadful penalty call on Casey Mittlestadt erased a late Avalanche comeback attempt with the net empty versus Columbus, reigning MVP MacKinnon unleashed his anger on both the officiating crew and his stick, earning a penalty for misconduct.
The above clip has been making the rounds on social media, and if you are an Avalanche detractor, the laughter has begun. For those of us watching and covering the Avalanche, however, this response seems well-earned. The call that ended their second loss was pretty horrendous, but more than that, the forward core for the Avalanche deserved better. Beyond producing four goals in each effort, the Avalanche skaters limited opponents to an expected goals against of just 1.87 against Columbus and 1.48 in Vegas. There is no sugar-coating or deflecting from the problem in Colorado: The Goaltending stinks.
Alexander Georgiev has a season save percentage of .680%, which is fine in beer-league but is unacceptable for an NHL goaltender. As for backup Justus Annunen, he has been asked to come in cold and surrendered two goals in each relief appearance. Looking at the advanced analytics Annunen has been the better goalie. Still, with Georgiev in a contract year and receiving the full backing of coach Jared Bednar, it seems unlikely Annunen will see a start this upcoming week. The Avalanche have already made moves, acquiring goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen from Winnipeg off of the waiver wire. Expect to see more goalie drama moving forward until and unless the on-ice product drastically improves.
Upcoming games this week:
Monday, October 14th, The Avalanche host former Goalie and Head Coach Patrick Roy and his New York Islanders at 7:00 PM MT. Coverage provided by Altitude
Wednesday, October 16th, The Avalanche host the Boston Bruins at Ball Arena. Coverage provided by TNT/MAX beginning at 7:30 PM MT
Friday, October 18th, The Avalanche host the Anaheim Ducks at 7:00 PM MT. Coverage provided by Altitude
Sunday, October 20th, The Avalanche travel to San Jose to play the Sharks. Coverage provided by Altitude beginning at 6:00 pm MT
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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