Biggest surprises from Colorado Avalanche's first month of the season
Who are the three biggest surprises on the Colorado Avalanche over the first month of the season?
The Colorado Avalanche are sitting at .500 as we exit the month of October. They lost their first four games of the year then followed that up with five consecutive wins. In their last game, against the Chicago Blackhawks, they lost 5-2, but that game was closer than the score indicates.
Unfortunately, Alexandar Georgiev has had a very rough start to the season, winning just one of five games in which he started. He was pulled in two of those games.
The Avalanche rank 10th in goals for per game with 3.60. Additionally, they are second-worst in terms of goals against, at 4.10 per game. The team that ranks last in that category is the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Avalanche have been in a position in the past, similar to what they are now. This isn’t the first time they started out slow. They’ve managed to pull themselves together to make seven consecutive playoff appearances.
Let’s take a look at three players who have made tremendous contributions to the team’s season after the first month.
3. Justus Annunen, G
The last line of defense is obviously the most important position in hockey. That being the goaltender. I’ve felt that Justus Annunen has looked very good so far this season, while Alexandar Georgiev has looked quite a bit worse. Annunen has started off the year with a 4-1 record.
Annunen has pulled off four-straight victories. He also came into the first two games of the season in relief of Georgiev. The worst game of Annunen’s season so far was on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators. The Avalanche won that game 5-4.
It felt as if the losses the team suffered through got to them, especially evident by a comment made by Mikko Rantanen, saying that he felt as if the puck was going into the net every time the team was caught sleeping.
Annunen has definitely looked like the better goaltender of the two this season, which has created a controversy. Will the Avalanche move Georgiev sometime in the near future? Kaapo Kahkonen is slated to start for the Avalanche on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. That could seal the deal if he impresses.
2. Ross Colton, Wing
Due to significant injuries, head coach Jared Bednar has started Ross Colton on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen for several games. Colton impressed so much in his new role that there really is no reason to move off of him at that spot going forward.
Colton has eight goals and one assist in 10 games played this season. He has just looked electric out there on the ice pretty much every game so far.
Unfortunately, Colton suffered a foot injury on Monday, which forced him out of the game… After a while, anyways. He somehow was able to keep playing, despite what was announced on Wednesday as a broken foot. Colton will miss 6-8 weeks with the injury.
Of course, we won’t know how his progress will turn out from this recovery. Hopefully he misses no more than the six week minimum, but the Avalanche will cross that bridge when the time comes to do so.
In 80 games last year, Colton scored 17 goals and assisted on 23. It turned out to be his best season of his career so far.
1. Joel Kiviranta, LW
When it comes to the Avalanche, particularly this season, irregulars have had to step into the lineup since Game 1. That includes Joel Kiviranta. Among the lineup changes we’ve seen was defenseman Oliver Kylington going from defense to a wing spot, and Joel Kiviranta being placed on the top left wing spot with MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Throughout the season, Kiviranta has impressed fans as well as head coach Jared Bednar. Nathan MacKinnon has also sung the praises of Kiviranta, deeming him “awesome” when the two played on the top line together.
Kiviranta has four goals in 11 games, while also averaging 10:53 of ice time per game through that time. Two of his goals came against the Seattle Kraken on October 22nd.
Giving Kiviranta time on the first line will help him improve his game, and chemistry with MacKinnon. We’ll see what kind of an impact the return of Arturri Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin makes at some point. Either way, the experience is very important given that an injury can happen at any given time in any given game.
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