The start of the 2024-2025 season has not gone according to plan for the Colorado Avalanche.
After an 6-2 loss at the hands of the New York Islanders last night at Ball Arena, the Avalanche have fell to 0-3, allowing a league high 20 goals. While it is still way too early to sound any alarm bells, the Avalanche must get a handle on their goaltending if they are to stop the bleeding. It starts with their number one goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev.
Georgiev, 28, was pulled in each of the teams first two games, allowing 5 goals against to the Golden Knights on 16 shots in the season opener for a save percentage of .688 and allowed 3 goals on just 9 shots against to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a save percentage of .667 in a 6-4 loss.
Last night against the New York Islanders, Georgiev was a little better than in his 1st two outings but still allowed 5 goals on 37 shots for another save percentage of sub .900, this time at .865. Despite Georgievs’ struggles, posing the question if the Colorado Avalanche have a goaltending problem, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar stood by his goaltender after Georgiev was pulled in the 2nd straight game after the loss to Columbus this past Saturday.
Related: Goaltending Could Pose A Problem For The Avalanche This Season
“I get that there’s a level of frustration, but (Georgiev), he’s our guy, he’s our starter, right? And I have full faith that he has the ability, the talent, (and) the work ethic to bounce back and win us hockey games. It’s a mental game (for him) right now, right? So we’ll regroup and then we have other areas … that we have to get better at,” Bednar said.
While Bednar throws his support behind Georgiev, the Avalanche haven’t been able to rely on 24-year-old backup goalie Justus Annunen either in this young season. In his two appearances in mop-up duty after coming in for Georgiev, Annunen hasn’t been able to stop any of the bleeding. In the opener against the Golden Knights, Annunen allowed 2 goals on only 4 shots for a save percentage of .500 and allowed 2 goals on 13 shots in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets for a save percentage of .846.
The performances by Georgiev and Annunen in the first two games, led to Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland snatching goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.
Related: Avalanche Claim Goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen Off Waivers From The Winnipeg Jets
Kahkonen, 28, may not be the savior in goal for the Avalanche but after being traded by the San Jose Sharks to the New Jersey Devils last March, Kahkonen posted a solid 2.51 goals against average and a .923 save percentage, albeit in a small sample size of 6 games.
It is possible that Bednar could tap Kahkonen to make his season debut for the Avalanche on Wednesday night when the Boston Bruins come to town. If Kahkonen can replicate his performance from his brief stint with the New Jersey Devils from last season it would be a significant improvement from the level of goaltending the Avalanche are currently getting from Georgiev and Annunen.
The three headed goalie system isn’t very common in the NHL these days, so if Kahkonen struggles as well, you could quickly see Kahkonen waived again as the Avalanche likely won’t carry three goalies on their roster if he isn’t a big improvement over Georgeiv or Annunen.
If that comes to fruition, that brings Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland back to square one with ways to improve his teams goaltending. Unless a trade occurs for a goaltender that would be a significant improvement over the current three goalies they have on their roster, which is unlikely at this point in the season, the Avalanche will simply have to hope Georgiev, Annunen or Kahkonen can take the reigns and make the timely saves to allow MacKinnon and company to win games.
In the meantime, it’s still early, but as the saying goes, it starts to get late early.
