Coming into their tilt with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Colorado Avalanche had been hot as can be. Winners of five straight, they had just held off the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Sunday night and were looking to make it six in a row with a win over their struggling Central Division foe.
Unfortunately, it looked more like the Avalanche that lost four straight to start the season. The Avalanche fell at home to the Blackhawks 5-2 in a game that everyone involved would sooner forget about. Let’s get into the three takeaways from Monday night’s loss to the lowly Blackhawks.
Georgiev Is a Liability
The goaltending issue has been discussed ad nauseam by this point, but how can you say anything else? Alex Georgiev went from a solid goaltender to one incapable of providing big performances. This season, he has fallen off a cliff and become a legitimate liability in virtually every start he has had this season.
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His numbers are abysmal no matter how you look at them. He’s 1-4-0 with a 4.62 goals-against average and a .822 (!!!) save percentage. In his best outings, he has given up three goals and he’s already given up four or more three times in six starts.
It’s unclear what happened between last season and the start of this season, but Georgiev is broken. Team defense was spotty at best but there is a general vibe that is much different when he starts as opposed to Justus Annunen. The latter should be getting virtually every start he can handle going forward.
Avalanche Got Outworked
While Georgiev has been nothing resembling good this season, it’s hard to give him 100% of the blame for the loss to the Blackhawks. The Avalanche were routinely beaten to pucks, beaten to rebounds, and generally outworked by the Blackhawks on Monday night.
Several goals were scored simply because the Blackhawk player won the battle. Granted, the third goal of the game came when a rebound popped out front and Cale Makar had no stick with which to tie his man up. But it was hardly the only instance in which the Avalanche were simply outhustled.
In the NHL, you can’t expect to beat many teams if you’re getting beat to pucks. The Blackhawks sealed the game by getting to a loose puck and making a play before putting it into the empty net. The Avalanche have superior talent, but it won’t win out if they aren’t outskating the opposition in the process.
Makar Making History
Coming into the game, Makar had the opportunity to make history. With a point, he would become the fourth defenseman in NHL history to begin the season with a point in 10 consecutive games. The others to do it were Bobby Orr (15 games to start 1973-74), Doug Wilson (10 games to start 1981-82), and Guy Lapointe (10 games to start 1974-75).
With an assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s power play goal in the second period, Makar got his name in the record books. He is off to a torrid start to the season, leading the NHL in assists with 14 and coming in just behind the Vegas Golden Knights’ Mark Stone and his 18 points for the NHL lead.
Makar continues to produce at a level that we haven’t seen out of defensemen (other than Erik Karlsson’s 100-point season) in decades. He has done virtually everything a defenseman can do in this day and age. Can he add an Art Ross and Hart Trophy to his collection this season?
Room for Error Is Slim
The good news for the Avalanche is that it was a bad night for the Central Division. The Utah Hockey Club, Winnipeg Jets, and Nashville Predators all lost, though the latter did manage to get a point out of it. Even still, the room for error is slim for the Avalanche because of how deep the division is.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are next up and the Avalanche can’t look back. Annunen is undoubtedly going to get the nod in goal and the Avalanche have to rally. The Predators follow, an important divisional matchup early in the season.
