The Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season opener. Despite an excellent performance from Mikko Rantanen, they were defeated 8-4 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night. The Avalanche began strong, taking an early lead with a beautiful one-timer from Rantanen. However, the momentum shifted, resulting in an unexpected loss for the Avalanche.
While there were many things to be excited about, there were many things to worry about. It is early in the season, and much can change with 81 games left to play. We have seen this before from this team, but three all-too-familiar trends started to emerge that must be kept an eye on as the season progresses.
Offence Can’t Always Carry The Team
The Avalanche’s offence was strong throughout the game. They had a solid start, controlling much of the first half of the first period. They kept pace with the Golden Knights until about midway through the third period, when Rantanen’s third goal of the night brought the Avalanche within a goal at 5-4 before it all came crumbling down.
Rantanen, who still doesn’t have a contract extension, was expected to be a vital part of the lineup at the beginning of the season. He played alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and was a strong force at even strength and on the power play. He doesn’t need the puck on his stick for long to make an impact. On his three goals, the puck was on and off his stick in the blink of an eye. Colorado doesn’t have much depth right now, so the big guns must keep scoring if they want to stay afloat.
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It was a mixed night for Colorado’s rookies. Calum Ritchie had opportunities to score but couldn’t find the net. He was briefly benched in the second period after a defensive mistake. Nikolai Kovalenko seemed to be the strongest of the three, making an excellent play on the third Avalanche goal, but he also lost track of his man on the fourth Vegas goal. Ivan Ivan was relentless on the forecheck but didn’t get much ice time in the third period.
There was no doubt the Avalanche would have no trouble scoring goals with all of their talent. The problem is, can they score goals and keep that lead with the help of their goaltender? Every game can not be a shootout; while it is fun seeing goals pile up, it’s not a winning recipe come the playoffs.
Defence Needs To Perform Better
The offence did its job well, but the defence struggled in the game. Colorado’s usually-reliable defence had some lapses, particularly during the Knights’ power play when Victor Olofsson scored a goal late in the second period. Devon Toews attempted to block the shot but was unsuccessful. The goal from Olofsson to make it 5-3 was created by a bad break from Makar when he was unsuccessful in dumping the puck from his own zone quickly. It was quickly held in before it crossed the blue line, and Vegas set up again.
Ivan Barbashev scored an impressive second goal of the night by getting past Sam Girard and scoring on a breakaway, making the game 7-4. The play began with a turnover at the Vegas blue line, leading to the rush chance that resulted in a goal. These two goals were particularly notable because they highlighted breakdowns by the Avalanche defence. Despite only giving Vegas three power-play opportunities, they capitalized on two of them, scoring critical goals after the Avalanche had just scored their own to trim the deficit . It was unusual to see such a performance, but hopefully, it was just a one-time occurrence.
Back on the Goaltending Problem Train
In their last preseason meeting, Vegas dominated Alexandar Georgiev, winning 6-1. Although it was just a preseason game, the same situation repeated in the opener. The Knights scored five times on Georgiev on just 16 shots. Fans concerned about this team’s goaltending won’t feel any better after Wednesday night’s game. Colorado outshot the Golden Knights, but Georgiev couldn’t make the big saves to keep the game close. Each time Colorado scored, the Golden Knights would come down to the other end and score.
Not all of the goals were his fault, but Colorado certainly needed more from their goalie. In the third period, Jared Bednar replaced Georgiev with Justus Annunen, indicating his dissatisfaction with Georgiev’s performance. Unfortunately, Annunen didn’t fare much better.
Is it time for the Avalanche to push the panic button? Overall, no. It’s only the first game of the season, and plenty of hockey remains to be played. However, the goaltending situation could become an issue if not addressed now. Unfortunately, the clock has started ticking on the two goaltenders, who will need to find answers to the questions surrounding them sooner rather than later. The Avalanche are back on Saturday, Oct. 12, against the Columbus Blue Jackets in their home opener. The silver lining is that Georgiev had a poor performance in Game 1 of the 2024 postseason but quickly bounced back and performed well in the first round against the Winnipeg Jets, so let’s hope we can see that from him again this season.
When you step back and breathe, you realize it’s only the first game of an 82-game season. There will be games you win, ones you lose, and overtime wins and losses along the way. If the Avalanche showed what’s in store for the season regarding their offensive game, defending, and goaltending, it will be a long season with a lot of work to be done if the trends don’t reverse themselves.
