Over the past few seasons, the Colorado Avalanche have been one of the top teams in the league that have had multiple starting goalies the past few seasons. However, that hasn’t stopped them from regular season and postseason success, even winning a Stanley Cup.
Alexandar Georgiev and Ivan Provestov are the latest tandem with the Avalanche this season and are a significant reason they are 15-6-0 to start the season so far. With their goalie’s stats off to an excellent start, its contribution to the defensive play in front of them has been a significant part of their success and will continue to do so.
Georgiev’s Play In Net
On July 18, 2022, the restricted free agent ended his time as a backup to Igor Shesterkin with the New York Rangers and was traded to the Avalanche. He was now their starting goaltender, replacing Darcy Kuemper, who left in free agency to join the Washington Capitals this past offseason. With Pavel Francouz still signed, their goalie tandem was locked in heading into the 2022-23 season.
Finishing his first season with the Avalanche, Georgiev saw career highs across the board. In 62 starts, he finished with a 40-16-6 record with a .918 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.53 goals-against average (GAA) in the regular season, finishing seventh in Vezina Trophy voting. The postseason saw him put up similar stats in their first-round loss to the Seattle Kraken, starting all seven games and posting a .914 SV% with a 2.60 GAA.
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Georgiev aims to build on last season’s success but has somewhat deceptive stats to start the 2023-24 season. In 18 games, he has a record of 13-5-0 with a .898 SV% and a 2.84 GAA. Compared to last season’s first 18 games started, Georgiev had an 11-5-2 record with a .920 SV%. Most notable has been his last five starts, as he has posted a 4-1-0 record with a .918 SV%, including an impressive win against the Tampa Bay Lighting on Nov. 27, outdueling Andrei Vasilevskiy and stopping 37 of the 38 shots he saw that night.
Prosvetov Coming In For Relief
When it was announced on Nov. 12 that Francouz would miss the remainder of the season due to a lower-body injury and was heading back to his family in Czechia, many wondered about the workload that Gerogiev would receive. Many questioned if we would see a call-up from the Colorado Eagles, their American Hockey League (AHL) team. We later saw that the solution came in the form of Ivan Prosvetov to back up Georgiev this season.
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Prosvetov was put on waivers on Oct. 8 by the Arizona Coyotes, his original team, and was picked up by the Avalanche the following day as their replacement for Francouz. In the three games he has started, he has a 2-1-0 record with a .915 SV% and a 2.44 GAA. With the limited sample size we have seen from Prosvetov, it’s not much, but with what he has shown, it’s worth getting him more starts to see if he can continue his excellent performance.
This is different from the ’80s, ’90s, or even the early 2000s, where we saw goaltenders start upwards of 60 to 70 games a season and barely use their backups. Things have changed in the NHL, and if Georgiev retains a sub .900 SV%, we could see Prosvetov come into play more often and have Georgiev’s workload lighten.
Defensive Efforts Shining Bright
Although goaltending has played a crucial role in the team’s early season success, their collective defensive efforts have been a significant factor too, often overshadowed by their high-powered offense so far this season. Many would refer to the Avalanche as a powerhouse offense team, planning on outscoring the other team to win games, which they have had to rely on this season but less often than some might think.
Related: Avalanche’s Offensive Stats On the Rise
The Avalanche rank third in penalty kill percentage (PK%) with 88.0%, sixth in shots allowed per game (SA/GP) with 28.1, and tenth in goals allowed per game (GA/GP) at 2.81 in the NHL so far this season. In the last six games, the Avalanche were on the penalty kill 23 times and have only given up two goals in those 23 attempts. The new addition to the team, Miles Wood, has been on the ice for only one powerplay goal in 25 minutes of penalty kill time.
Although there is always room for improvement, the Avalanche have started the season off on the right foot by working together as a cohesive unit. While the statistics may not be awe-inspiring, Georgiev has been making crucial saves, and Prosvetov has been playing very well as a backup picked up off waivers. If the offense can stay hot and the penalty kill continues to excel, this team can make strides toward the playoffs and look for another Stanley Cup.