Avalanche News
Flynn’s Daily: Where Avs Sit Quarter Way Through Season
Twenty games into the season have been a roller coaster ride for the Colorado Avalanche. The team sits fourth in the Central Division at .550 with a record of 11-9-0.
Let’s state the obvious first: the main reason the team struggled to start the season was because it was missing key players.
The Avs started without Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin. They lost their first four games and Jonathan Drouin got injured in the first game. They won the next five then lost the following three. Ross Colton broke his foot in one of those losses and won’t return until mid-December.
Artturi Lehkonen returned in the win over the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 5 and the team only lost one of the next four with him back in the lineup. Miles Wood was out for a few games and he returned the same night as Nichushkin and Drouin โ the 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Nov. 15.
The second issue has been goaltending. It hasn’t been consistent. It has either been outstanding or awful.
Alexandar Georgiev lost three of his first four starts and got pulled in the second game after giving up three goals on nine shots. It didn’t help the team struggled in front of him but he did not play like the 38-win goaltender last season.
The Russian netminder has won his last four starts and looked more like the starter head coach Jared Bednar has needed for his team to win games.
After a rocky start, Justus Annunen built his confidence to win four in a row before Bednar gave Georgiev another shot. Georgiev lost the next two, which put the 24-year-old Finn back between the pipes. He split a loss to the Nashville Predators and then a win over the Seattle Kraken.
As the team has improved, so has the goaltending. If that trend continues, the Avalanche will be higher in the standings and point percentage by midway through the season.
Around the NHL
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Sidney Crosby is not known to throw hands but he did with Kyle Connor in the Penguins’ 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
Read how the brawl went down and how the team continues to fall: Penguins Report Card: Crosby Fight, Heavy Pressure, Is Team Prepared to Play?
San Jose Hockey Now: Joe Thornton’s No. 19 jersey will be retired on Saturday night at SAP Center. The Sharks’ longtime forward and NHL legend spoke about the upcoming ceremony at City Hall.
“Joe Thornton Day in San Jose โฆ sounds pretty good, eh?” he said.
More on Thornton’s Day: Thornton Holds Court at City Hall
More Avalanche News
Deen’s Daily: Colton Joins Avalanche Road Trip; Habs Forward Nears Return; Cossa Called Up
Ross Colton May Be Back in Avalanche Lineup Soon
Notebook: Was It Time for the Avalanche to Trade Justus Annunen?
Deenโs Daily: Avalanche Still Looking for Goaltending?; Red Wings Goaltending Takes a Hit
What Makes Nikolai Kovalenko a ‘Dangerous’ Player
Good & Bad: Full Team Effort in Avalanche Win
Good & Bad: Poor Goaltending, Execution in Avs Loss to Lightning
Avalanche’s Miles Wood Placed Back on IR; Chris Wagner Recalled
Avalanche Acquire Goaltender Scott Wedgewood From the Nashville Predators
Flynn’s Daily: How Avs Need to Move on from Loss; Montgomery Debuts as Blues New Head Coach
Isn’t Georgiev Bulgarian, not Russian?
Ruse, Bulgaria.
I won’t defend the goaltending but, damn, the Avs played some really, really bad hockey in half the games so far and there have been many games with next to no goal support. When the entire team starts playing well consistently, then they can say if they have a goaltending problem or not. Now that they have a mostly healthy roster, hopefully the “playing well consistently” part happens very soon.
It is very unlikely that they will play consistently as long as the top players are never held accountable. They set the tone, and most nights that tone is to work hard only when a scoring chance presents itself. I will say that Cale is having a much better season than last year, he has shown up at both ends on most nights.
Spot on analysis. To me, the real kicker is the goaltending. Once everyone is healthy, let’s see if the Avs can commit to defense while generating some chemistry with all four lines. Hopefully, we’ll find out the status of the Captain. I’m not sure he plays this year or ever again. That’s not what I want. But the farther out Landy goes, the less the probability that he recovers enough to play in the NHL.