The Colorado Avalanche will start goaltender Alexandar Georgiev in goal against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. It will be his second start in a row to begin the 2023-24 season. The first one resulted in a victory over the Los Angeles Kings where he allowed two goals in a 5-2 win.
The Sharks are coming off a 4-1 loss over the Vegas Golden Knights. This is the perfect opportunity for the Avalanche to get another win. Both teams will be hungry. The Sharks are hungry for that first win of the year. The Avalanche want to get off on a hot streak to start the season.
Georgiev is 4-0-0 against the Sharks in his career. He has played in five games against them, but he was only on the ice for 15 minutes in his second game against them back in 2021.
Georgiev has a career GAA of 1.86 against the San Jose Sharks. He allowed three goals in each of two matchups and two goals in another. In March and April of this year, Georgiev started against the Sharks three times and had 62 saves.
For the Avalanche as a team, they will need to stay focused and not get lazy if they end up going up by a couple of scores. They have allowed leads to get away from them too many times last year.
I really want to see the team’s lower lines get in the score column. It is important to build that momentum and confidence as you start the season. They have a much more improved team heading into this season than they did last year, not counting the injuries. That will be a key to the 2023-24 season: staying as healthy as possible.
Forgetting the obvious expectations to win this game, the Colorado Avalanche have some milestones they can reach with the victory.
Having won 12 straight games in the state of California is impressive on its own. Add the other things on the line and you have yourself a game this Colorado Avalanche team is hungry to win.