The Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season opener. Regardless of a wonderful efficiency from Mikko Rantanen, they have been defeated 8-4 at T-Cellular Area on Wednesday evening. The Avalanche started sturdy, taking an early lead with a lovely one-timer from Rantanen. Nonetheless, the momentum shifted, leading to an sudden loss for the Avalanche.
Whereas there have been many issues to be enthusiastic about, there have been many issues to fret about. It’s early within the season, and far can change with 81 video games left to play. We have now seen this earlier than from this group, however three all-too-familiar traits began to emerge that should be stored a watch on because the season progresses.
Offence Can’t All the time Carry The Staff
The Avalanche’s offence was sturdy all through the sport. They’d a strong begin, controlling a lot of the primary half of the primary interval. They stored tempo with the Golden Knights till about halfway by means of the third interval, when Rantanen’s third aim of the evening introduced the Avalanche inside a aim at 5-4 earlier than all of it got here crumbling down.
Rantanen, who nonetheless doesn’t have a contract extension, was anticipated to be a significant a part of the lineup firstly of the season. He performed alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and was a powerful power at even energy and on the ability play. He doesn’t want the puck on his stick for lengthy to make an impression. On his three targets, the puck was on and off his stick within the blink of a watch. Colorado doesn’t have a lot depth proper now, so the large weapons should preserve scoring in the event that they wish to keep afloat.
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It was a blended evening for Colorado’s rookies. Calum Ritchie had alternatives to attain however couldn’t discover the online. He was briefly benched within the second interval after a defensive mistake. Nikolai Kovalenko gave the impression to be the strongest of the three, making a wonderful play on the third Avalanche aim, however he additionally misplaced observe of his man on the fourth Vegas aim. Ivan Ivan was relentless on the forecheck however didn’t get a lot ice time within the third interval.
There was little question the Avalanche would don’t have any bother scoring targets with all of their expertise. The issue is, can they rating targets and preserve that lead with the assistance of their goaltender? Each recreation can’t be a shootout; whereas it’s enjoyable seeing targets pile up, it’s not a successful recipe come the playoffs.
Defence Wants To Carry out Higher
The offence did its job nicely, however the defence struggled within the recreation. Colorado’s usually-reliable defence had some lapses, significantly in the course of the Knights’ energy play when Victor Olofsson scored a aim late within the second interval. Devon Toews tried to dam the shot however was unsuccessful. The aim from Olofsson to make it 5-3 was created by a foul break from Makar when he was unsuccessful in dumping the puck from his personal zone rapidly. It was rapidly held in earlier than it crossed the blue line, and Vegas arrange once more.
Ivan Barbashev scored an spectacular second aim of the evening by getting previous Sam Girard and scoring on a breakaway, making the sport 7-4. The play started with a turnover on the Vegas blue line, resulting in the frenzy likelihood that resulted in a aim. These two targets have been significantly notable as a result of they highlighted breakdowns by the Avalanche defence. Regardless of solely giving Vegas three power-play alternatives, they capitalized on two of them, scoring crucial targets after the Avalanche had simply scored their very own to trim the deficit . It was uncommon to see such a efficiency, however hopefully, it was only a one-time prevalence.
Again on the Goaltending Drawback Prepare
Of their final preseason assembly, Vegas dominated Alexandar Georgiev, successful 6-1. Though it was only a preseason recreation, the identical state of affairs repeated within the opener. The Knights scored 5 instances on Georgiev on simply 16 pictures. Followers involved about this group’s goaltending received’t really feel any higher after Wednesday evening’s recreation. Colorado outshot the Golden Knights, however Georgiev couldn’t make the large saves to maintain the sport shut. Every time Colorado scored, the Golden Knights would come all the way down to the different finish and rating.
Not all the targets have been his fault, however Colorado definitely wanted extra from their goalie. Within the third interval, Jared Bednar changed Georgiev with Justus Annunen, indicating his dissatisfaction with Georgiev’s efficiency. Sadly, Annunen didn’t fare significantly better.
Is it time for the Avalanche to push the panic button? Total, no. It’s solely the primary recreation of the season, and loads of hockey stays to be performed. Nonetheless, the goaltending state of affairs might turn out to be a difficulty if not addressed now. Sadly, the clock has began ticking on the 2 goaltenders, who might want to discover solutions to the questions surrounding them sooner moderately than later. The Avalanche are again on Saturday, Oct. 12, in opposition to the Columbus Blue Jackets of their residence opener. The silver lining is that Georgiev had a poor efficiency in Recreation 1 of the 2024 postseason however rapidly bounced again and carried out nicely within the first spherical in opposition to the Winnipeg Jets, so let’s hope we are able to see that from him once more this season.
While you step again and breathe, you notice it’s solely the primary recreation of an 82-game season. There shall be video games you win, ones you lose, and extra time wins and losses alongside the way in which. If the Avalanche confirmed what’s in retailer for the season concerning their offensive recreation, defending, and goaltending, it is going to be a protracted season with numerous work to be executed if the traits don’t reverse themselves.
