Connect with us

Deen's Notebook

Good & Bad: A Tale of Two Performances in Avalanche’s Season Opener

Published

on

There weren’t a lot of great things to take away from the Avalanche’s season-opening 8-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. But two players stuck out, for completely opposite reasons. One couldn’t stop scoring, the other couldn’t stop letting in goals.



READ MORE: Game Recap from Colorado’s 8-4 loss at T-Mobile Arena

The Good: Mikko Rantanen

The Avalanche’s top winger came out flying on opening night, scoring a hat trick in a losing effort. Rantanen, who is still without a contract extension, was a large piece of what we expected to be a top-heavy lineup for the Avs to start the year. Alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, Rantanen was a force at even strength and on the power play.

His first goal opened the scoring for either team. Colorado came out flying in the first handful of minutes and added a goal before the Knights had their feet under them. Rantanen waited at the top of the circle for a feed from MacKinnon and blasted a one-timer past goalie Adin Hill while down on one knee. It’s the Mikko specialty.

He followed it up with his long PP goal, playing the half wall on his off-wing and firing another one-timer off a feed from star defenseman Cale Makar. Rantanen later added another tally just as Colorado’s second power play opportunity came to an end. Same spot, same type of goal, from the same PP quarterback setting him up from up top.

Unfortunately for Rantanen, each time the Avs scored, Vegas quickly followed it up with another goal.

The Bad: Alexandar Georgiev

On Tuesday I asked general manager Chris MacFarland about entering the season with yet another pending UFA starting goalie. And MacFarland didn’t hint at all at the idea of discussing a contract extension with Alexandar Georgiev. At least not yet, and maybe not ever. Not if games like this become the norm.

Georgiev struggled in the season opener, surrendering five goals on 16 shots in two periods before getting pulled for Justus Annunen. The backup didn’t fare much better either, stopping three of five shots in 15 minutes before head coach Jared Bednar opted to pull the goalie with five minutes remaining.

Both goalies combined to stop just two-thirds of the shots they faced. The empty net, thankfully, only surrendered one goal.

But the buck stops with Georgiev. And hopefully, on Saturday, he actually stops the puck. Colorado will need much more from the starter, especially in the early going when it’s shorthanded and lacking the firepower at the top of the lineup. The one bright side? Georgiev looked terrible in Game 1 of the 2024 postseason but bounced back very well, and right away, in the first round against Winnipeg.

Colorado's premier coverage of the Avalanche from professional hockey people. Evan Rawal, Editor-in-Chief. Part of the National Hockey Now family.

This site is in no way associated with the Colorado Avalanche or the NHL. Copyright © 2023 National Hockey Now.