Colorado Avalanche face big test on Saturday night against the Florida Panthers

The Colorado Avalanche visit Florida to take on the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in one of the team’s biggest tests this season.

The Avs have won two in a row and have seemingly climbed out of the early-season hole the club was in. Colorado is now two points off a playoff spot and only looks to continue climbing the standings as injured players return to the lineup.  

As such, it seems the Avs have weathered the storm, overcoming a major hurdle insofar as the unusually high number of injuries befalling the club. That being said, Saturday night’s tilt against the Florida Panthers will be an interesting test for the Avs.

On the one hand, the Panthers are still one of the best teams in the league. They trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by one point for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Cats have dealt with their own injury issues, but have shown tremendous resilience. They have one of the deepest cores in the league and play a suffocating style particularly when holding onto a lead.

On the other hand, the Avalanche seem to be finding their identity just now. The patchwork lineup that coach Jared Bednar has iced most of the season was hardly conducive to creating chemistry that could help the club find stability and generate momentum.

That’s changed now that most of the team’s regulars have gotten into the lineup. It remains uncertain when some of the returning players will get back to their full capabilities. Nevertheless, the coming weeks and months look encouraging for the Avalanche.

Goaltending remains a concern for the Colorado Avalanche

Alexandar Georgiev’s last outing was his best of the season. It looked like the brief stint on IR helped Georgiev get a reset of sorts. That’s crucial as the Avs don’t have very much depth beyond Georgiev and Justus Annunen.

We can assume Annunen is still the starter at this point. But judging by Georgiev’s last outing, a tandem situation could be the best approach.

Whoever gets the start against the Panthers will need to show that he is capable of facing the league’s top teams and give the Avalanche a chance to win. Whether it’s Georgiev or Annunen, either netminder will need to prove he’s the guy Bednar can go to for Game 1 of the playoffs.

That being said, if the Panthers blow out the Avs, there will be plenty of questions to answer. But regardless of whether the Avs win or lose on Saturday night, the organization will feel confident in the team as long as the Avs play a solid game.

Expect a low-scoring, tight-checking affair. The Panthers will deploy defensive specialist Sasha Barkov against Nathan MacKinnon. So, it will be up to the depth scoring to come through for the Avs. Here’s hoping the Avs play a strong game and skate away with the two points.