Since the arrival of Mackenzie Blackwood to become the starting goaltender, the Colorado Avalanche, for the most part, have been in nearly every game. He has a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.04 with the team, which is pretty darn good. Overall this season, his GAA is 2.50. That, of course, includes his time with the San Jose Sharks prior to the trade that shipped off Alexandar Georgiev.
On the other side, Georgiev had a goals-against average of 3.38 with Colorado this season, and has a goals-against average of 4.01 with San Jose. Without really watching any Sharks games, based off of some of their basic statistics, their goal differential is, by far, the worst in the league at -62.
I remember hearing people refer to Georgiev as “Fourgiev” because of the number of games in which he allowed four or more goals with the Avalanche. Blackwood has allowed three 4-goal games with the Avalanche this season, and Colorado went 1-2 in those games.
In the Sharks’ game against the Canadiens, Georgiev allowed four goals on 20 shots. Now, I admit I didn’t get to see the game, but that just screams “typical Georgiev.”
Unfortunately, there have been a few issues for the Avalanche this season. We all know about the team’s bad injury luck. The team has obviously missed Gabriel Landeskog for the past two years. Valeri Nichushkin has missed a lot of this season due to his suspension handed down last postseason, as well as an injury he is currently dealing with. Ross Colton missed a ton of time with a broken foot. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood has an injury, causing the Avalanche to call up Trent Miner.
Going back to the other spots on the team, however, the team’s more-consistent play as of late has helped the Avalanche skaters be more confident and aggressive.
There’s never just one answer to why a team may be losing. However, when you go from a goaltender who allows goals on what should be easy saves, to a goaltender who puts in 100% effort night in and night out, it really proves that confidence is a huge factor in how you’re going to play as a team. Who knows where the Avalanche would be had they not changed things up at the goaltender position?
That being said, I do think this team needs to be more consistent. Some nights, they look like they’re all there. Other nights, they look like they were asleep. Of course, that wasn’t the case on Tuesday night against the Canucks, as Thatcher Demko looked like an elite goalie, snatching everything that was shot his way. The Avalanche need to find ways to outsmart goalies who are on a roll, especially with a guy by the name of Connor Hellebuyck in the division.
If the Avalanche did not trade for Blackwood (and Wedgewood), I strongly believe that they would not be close to even a wildcard position. Not everything laid in the glove of Georgiev. Not everything was his fault. Colorado’s inefficiency in making good on their opportunities has been a very frustrating thing to see.
Having Georgiev back in net would make things even worse, as it felt pretty obvious the team didn’t have much confidence in him. Blackwood keeps the Avalanche in games. Remember, in Tuesday night’s game against the Canucks, Blackwood only allowed one goal. The second goal was on an empty net. Essentially, the game was 1-0. The Avalanche have more talent than they showed against Vancouver. They just need to bring it out.
While the Avalanche aren’t out of luck, if they don’t get their act together, they could find their way out of the postseason. Offensively, they need to step up big time. At some point, we hope that they can get back to terrorizing the NHL.