Good & Bad: Georgiev, Avalanche Come Up Short in Goaltending Battle vs Winnipeg

Alexandar Georgiev had his best game of the season. But the goalie on the other side was one save better.

Colorado suffered its first shutout loss on Thursday, falling 1-0 to the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets. Gabe Vilardi had the lone goal just 1:06 into the contest. And the rest of the way, it was a battle between the two goalies who faced off in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar saw their season-opening point streaks end at 13 games. But what a great game all-around for the Avs. It was arguably one of their performances all season. And it came against a strong opponent.

Good: Goalie Battle

On the Avs’ side, Georgiev had far and away his best performance since the playoffs. Despite letting in an early goal, which came on a 2-on-1 attack, Georgiev shut it down the rest of the way. In goal for Winnipeg was the reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, who stole the game for the Jets. He made 34 saves including 16 in the third period to earn his third shutout of the season. Colorado outshot the Jets 34-28, and a dominating 16-4 in the third period.

Kudos to Georgiev for his game. He made several huge stops and absolutely stonewalled Nikolaj Ehlers on the doorstep in the third period to keep the Avs within reach. When you’re 6-8-0 to start the year, it’s hard to really take any moral victories from a tough loss. But with the reinforcements expected to join the lineup soon, having the team, and specifically Georgiev also put in a performance like this is a great sign. Truly something they can build off of.

And as for Hellebuyck. My goodness, what a game for that guy. He was spectacular in every aspect. MacKinnon was flying all over the ice and had a few opportunities coming up the wing to beat the goalie one-on-one with a shot. And each time he did, he was stopped. In one of MacKinnon’s rushes, Hellebuyck stood tall — expecting MacKinnon to shoot short side top shelf. Hellebuyck took away the shot and made it look routine.

Minutes later, MacKinnon had another rush — and an open look at the goal — but decided to try passing it off to Artturi Lehkonen instead. You have to wonder, in that moment, if MacKinnon felt like his shot coming up the wing just wasn’t going to beat Hellebuyck on this night.

Bad: Lack of Penalties

The Avalanche got their only power play in the final 70 seconds of the game. While they tried their best to make the most of it, it was also too little, too late. Winnipeg entered the contest with the league’s best PP but was scoreless on both opportunities. The first, a slashing call on Lehkonen, was about as light a call as I’ve seen in a while.

The frustrating part for Colorado was that there were a ton of potential infractions that went uncalled. It was almost as if the officials decided to swallow their whistles and turn it more into a playoff-like officiated game after calling a weak penalty on the Avs.

Logan O’Connor and Lehkonen both took high sticks to the face that went uncalled. And the Avalanche, who dominated play for the final two periods, were unable to get a whistle to go their way until the very end.

Good: Lehkonen the Battler

I almost feel embarrassed to say this, but, it’s been so long without Lehkonen in the lineup that I almost forgot just how hard he plays. Lehkonen is among the best net-front battlers in the NHL. He was unbelievable in the third period and was consistently retrieving the puck back to MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen on the forecheck. I’ve said this several times over the past week but having him back, and eventually also adding Valeri Nichushkin next week, is going to change the way this team plays.

In two games, Lehkonen has a goal, an assist, and 17 shot attempts, six of which were on goal, and has been noticeably impactful at even strength, the PP, and the penalty kill. He’s averaging a whopping 23:48 of ice time.