Avalanche News
Flynn’s Daily: How Avs Need to Move on from Loss; Montgomery Debuts as Blues New Head Coach
Colorado needs to sweep the 8-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning under the rug and move on to prepare for a battle against the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena on Wednesday night.
The Avs return to Denver with three wins from their four-game road trip and a question mark in goaltending. Alexandar Georgiev won his last five starts but cannot play every game. Justus Annunen earned a win versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 18 but was pulled in his start against the Washington Capitals on Nov. 15 and was pulled again in the loss to the Bolts on Monday.
“It’s probably one of those ones where you just swipe it under the carpet and talk about it briefly and move on,” head coach Jared Bednar said after the loss at Amalie Arena. “We’re going back, day off tomorrow after getting in late, and then we got to go Vegas, Dallas, Edmonton, so we don’t have time to dwell on this one.”
Good & Bad: Poor Goaltending, Execution in Avs Loss to Lightning
Jonathan Drouin was ruled out just before the game started with an upper-body injury. The loss to Tampa Bay was a disaster, but Cale Makar is not worried. The team played structured in its wins against the Flyers, Capitals and Florida Panthers. There is a lot of good to take away from the long road trip even though the defeat to the Lightning was a tough blow.
“Jumbled lines again, obviously Dru (Drouin) being out late last second, so it is what it is. But for us, felt like we had the legs the whole trip, and there was nothing against that. It’s just just another road trip. So for us, wanted to end on a good note … just tonight just wasn’t connected,” Makar said. “I’m not overly concerned. I think we understand what we did wrong and we’ll move on.”
The team has shown resilience so far this season with the adjustments to the lineup. Colorado posted a five-game win streak after four straight losses to start the season.
Artturi Lehkonen returned from offseason shoulder surgery on Nov. 5 and the Avs won the next four of five. Valeri Nichushkin, Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood were added to the lineup in the Nov. 15 loss to the Capitals. They won the next three and then the loss in Tampa Bay.
“You get three out of four against the teams we just played, coming into the cities, we did with the travel. We did three of four. We’ll take it all. We’ll take it every day,” Bednar said.
Around the NHL
St. Louis Blues: Jim Montgomery was hired as the St. Louis Blues’ head coach just five days after being let go from the Boston Bruins. The former University of Denver bench boss served as the assistant coach in St. Louis under Craig Berube from 2020-22 and led the Bruins for the next two seasons.
The team struggled under Drew Bannister with a 39-31-6 record in 76 games after he replaced Berube and was 9-12-1 this season before Montgomery stepped in.
The Blues beat the New York Rangers 5-2 Monday night in Montgomery’s debut behind the bench.
“I loved our effort,” Montgomery said. “Our execution offensively was really good. We have some areas to improve upon, but just the effort and how hard they played for each other to block shots, the togetherness at the end of the second [period], how we stuck up for each other. That’s Blues hockey. That’s blue-collar hockey.”
Philly Hockey Now: The Flyers blew a 3-0 lead to fall 5-4 in a shootout against the Golden Knights on Monday night.
Flyers rookie defenseman Emil Andrae scored his first NHL goal in the second period but Philly could not hold on. The team gave up two goals in the middle frame and another in the third to take it to a scoreless overtime and then a shootout.
Full recap on Flyers loss: Emil Andrae Goes Wild for First NHL Goal as Flyers Blow Another Lead
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
Lots of doom and gloom in the comments section of the recap story, but you said it here: it’s one game out of 82, and it followed a three-game road winning streak. So let’s pump the brakes on the calls for wholesale changes that some are suggesting. The fact of the matter is: both Georgiev and Annunen have been good more than they’ve been bad this season, and a lot of the goals they’ve given up aren’t totally on them (the the first goal last night, where Juice had an unacceptable screen that de Haan didn’t attempt to move out… Read more »
It was only 1 game and the results of the road trip were good. That doesn’t negate the fact that the team is not playing good hockey very much. They are finding ways to win but they have not looked like a cup contender at any point this season. Many of the folks here seem to think its all on the goalies. If we could somehow both afford and pull off a trade for a top G like Vasilevski, it would make very little difference. The goalies have been weak, but they are not the sole reason our play is… Read more »
Like I said: doom and gloom… Apparently hanging 6 goals on Metro leading Carolina or putting 7 on defending champion Florida don’t count as good wins? Just stop complaining, be patient, and root for the team.
๐๐๐
Being barely .500 at this point is pitiful. Bad start, bad habits,highest piad players not making an impact. Call it what you want, but it is pitiful!
Jesus this team has been atrocious from the get go and even with everyone back goaltending and defense is still an issue. Avs literally have no defense and by that is there play style. Bednar doesn’t know how to adjust. The team is just built on high octane offense instead of trying to be balanced. This year alone. So many defensive lapses especially in the Washington game. 4 breakaways and a dude left all by himself in front of net. This isn’t just about last night. This is about the whole season so far. The front office better wake up… Read more »
More doom, more gloom.
It’s not doom and gloom when it’s true.
Goaltending has been atrocious. Say what you want. But this reverts to last year also as georgiev letting in soft goals to.
Exactly. Joe is a moonbat clearly!. Voted for Kamaltoe.
Well said. Joe is a turdstomper clearly!
I’m telling you they should do a package deal of ferraro and Blackwood.
The defense and goaltending would be so much better.
Adding ferraro would give toews to rest his injury
Ferraro makar
Girard manson
De haan malinski
Once toews back
Toews makar
Ferraro Girard
Manson malinski
Defense just got much needed depth with
De haan being a healthy scratch and ludvig 8th dmen.
Blackwood isn’t the upgrade everyone seems to think he is. Also, they’re not going to play two right-shot defensemen together if it can be avoided.
Have you seen his numbers compared to georgiev and Annunen and blackwood plays on a rebuilding team while this team should be elite.
Everyone forgetting avs peppered blackwood with 51 shots and barely beat shark 2-1 in OT
Bingo.
Avs cannot afford or acquire a decent goals. Vegas has Samsonov, who failed in WAS and TOR. Sometimes it takes time. If the O showed consistently, scored some timeley goals, Avs woul have more wins and less grama.
Blues New Head Coach
When will we see Avalanche new coach. It is time! As Buffer says!
https://www.google.com/search?q=Bruce+Buffer+video+it+is+time&gs_ivs=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:54c44b28,vid:txt4U9WOH68,st:0
What does Joe Sakic do for a living? I’ll hang up and wait for your reply . . .
There is a difference between “Gloom and Doom” and reality. While not quite a five alarm fire, there is reason for major concern with this Avs team. Number one concern? Goaltending, for sure. I think there is enough of a sample size to make the determination that Juice is not a reliable backup in the NHL. He’s often sieve city and he doesn’t move well. Evan was right about him. Georgie is our best hope going forward sans a new goalie acquisition, which I don’t see happening. The only hope of winning a Cup again is tied to Georgie and… Read more »
You don’t need an elite goalie to win the Cup. The Avs did it with Kuemper, and let’s face it, he was above average at best. The Oilers almost won last year with Stuart freaking Skinner, who has been a disaster this year – more than Georgiev or Annunen. Vegas won in 2023 was the immortal Adin Hill – who might not even make Team Canada in the Four Nations. Let’s also not forget that Jordan Binnington of all people has his name on the Cup. It’s great if you have a Bobrovsky or Vasilevskiy or prime Jonathan Quick in… Read more »
๐คฆโโ๏ธ
No one is talking about the Avs going out and getting “elite goaltending.” The idea is to get competent goaltending which the Avs do not have. They are constantly playing from behind because neither goalie consistently, if ever, saves the first ten shots. It’s time to make a move, even if it’s a gamble, because a gamble is better than a surefire miss, which Georgiev is, and at least for this season, Annunen is too.
You miss the other half of the equation. Namely, a stout defense. And a commitment to defense. Look at that Cup team. On the back end, bruisers like E.J. and J.J. (J.J. was an absolute beast against Tampa in the final.) You had Kadri and Landeskog. Tough as nails. Glue guys like Cogs and physical players like Helm. Complementary players like Compher and Burakovsky. Is Georgie better than Kuemper? Possibly, but not by much. But the dropoff in talent is too great to win without an elite goalie with this Avs team.
Spot on Rico. I always enjoy
\reading your stuff along with Karl and Glendon. It seems like the reporters in this town are always afraid to say the obvious for fear of loss of access to the team.
To the point about them seemingly going through the motions – I commented to my son recently that the Avs look like ‘robots’ out there much of the time. Hockey should be played with some fire/emotion and this roster doesn’t show that on the ice often enough if at all. I am not a fan of the three guys having the “A” on their sweaters every game for a couple of reasons including the aforementioned lack of fire. Name a dang captain and move forward. If Landy comes back…he gets the “C” back. This Landeskog distraction is having an affect… Read more »