Georgiev Shuts Out Kuemper and Capitals For Avalanche

The goaltending decision made by Colorado Avalanche management over the summer keeps looking better and better. The Alexandar Georgiev-led Avalanche shut out last year’s goalie, Darcy Kuemper, in a 4-0 victory over the Washington Capitals.

After another period (the first) in which the Avalanche was badly outshot, the team dominated from the second period on in getting a great victory. Avs got goals from Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon (a doozy), Andrew Cogliano and Artturi Lehkonen and Georgie made 32 saves for his first career shutout with Colorado.

“Feels great to get first shutout with Avs,” Georgiev told Altitude TV right after the game. “Lot of guys stepping up. Every game is important to us.”

Once the Avalanche took the lead, on a 5-on-3 goal late in the first period from Cale Makar, they just seemed to totally transform in the confidence in this game. The Avalanche gave the Caps very little offensively, while successively building on the lead by Makar.

MacKinnon’s goal came after he deked about six times past a couple Caps D guys, then put a shot to the top corner, far post. It was a truly great goal. The Caps seemed stunned from that moment on, and the game never seemed in doubt from there.

“I thought that was a huge win for us. Last game, we knew it wasn’t our best. But this was one of our most complete games of the season,” Cogliano told Altitude.

Cogs was credited with the goal after Jacob MacDonald blasted a shot that had a crazy rebound off Cosgs’ skate.

The Avalanche forecheck and overall defensive game got a lot better after that first period in which the Avalanche was outshot 15-2 at one point. The final shots finished 32-29 for the Caps.

I thought Georgiev looked outstanding. While Kuemper looked like he did much of his time with the Avs – good in some moments, bad in others – Georgie looked like a brick wall in net. He seemed square to every shot and was way ahead of the field in terms of anticipating where the puck would go in front of him.

“Lots of good work by our forwards to get up above pucks,” Avs coach Jared Bednar told Altitude. “The other night, our goalie steals a game and tonight our other goalie gets a shutout. To have those guys anchoring our team has been nice.”

The Avalanche can close out a perfect three-game trip with a win Monday in Dallas.

Darcy Kuemper and Nicolas Aube-Kubel show off their Stanley Cup rings after receiving them from the Colorado Avalanche postgame tonight. pic.twitter.com/Qg8wn3qNCJ

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) November 20, 2022