The Avalanche played their final game of a four game road trip tonight, but for all intents ended their road trip after the Panthers game, sleepily falling 8-2 in Amalie Arena against the Lightning.
It was 1-0 Tampa before fans even settled into their seats and it just got worse, with Tampa scoring five first period goals on the way to an 8-2 drubbing of an uninterested Avalanche squad.
The lone bright spot for the Avs was forward Ivan Ivan, who scored two goals on a move from the fourth to the second line. He also drew a penalty.
That's where the positives stop and the negatives begin for this team. Poor coaching decisions, poor defensive zone play, and a lack of offensive creativity mar this disaster, but one aspect of this game that has permeated the entire season is the lackluster play of anyone in between the pipes for the burgundy and blue.
Justus Annunen started tonight and from the onset he was not of NHL caliber. He played the first 10:03, allowing three goals on six shots. Bednar pulled Juice for Georgiev and he played the next 29:57, allowing three more goals on 17 shots. To start the third, Annunen was back between the pipes and not any better. He faced ten shots in the third and allowed two more goals.
Annunen now has been pulled in two of his last three starts. His save percentage tonight was .688%. He was better in his regular time in net earlier this season, but saving seven out of every ten doesn't scream confidence. In fact, it doesn't even scream NHL.
Georgiev hasn't been much better. He saved .824% of shots tonight, well below the league bottom line of around .900%. He doesn't instill confidence either. He's got a .874 save percentage this season to go along with 3.37 goals against average across 12 games.
Annunen has a better goals against, of 2.81 over ten games played, but only an .886 save percentage this season, also below league minimum. Annunen is 29th in the NHL in goals against average, Georgiev isn't even in the top 40 of goalies. Annunen is 39th in the league in save percentage, Georgiev also not inside the top 40.
The Avalanche are 12-10 through 22 games this season. They sit fourth in the division. If the season ended today, they'd be the first wildcard, holding on to a playoff spot by one point.
If they expect to go anywhere this season, which much of Avalanche nation expects from them, then they need to get competent goaltending from anyone wearing an Avs jersey, because they haven't gotten it thus far.
Chris MacFarland and company need to search far and wide to improve the goaltending position, because they're wasting this season. It's still early, but the season's one quarter of the way complete, and time is ticking.