After a tough 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Colorado Avalanche came into Thursday night’s tilt with the Washington Capitals looking for two things. For starters, they needed to get another winning streak going. Perhaps more importantly, they wanted revenge on the Capitals from a loss earlier in the season.
It wasn’t the prettiest game and the Avalanche needed a few fortunate bounces, but they got the job done. Here are three takeaways from the Avalanche’s 2-1 win over the Capitals in the nation’s capital on Thursday night.
Georgiev Is Back
The goaltending situation has been a tense topic of conversation so far this season. Granted, the Avalanche have been looking for help defensively (and found it in some places) but everyone knew that goaltending would play a pivotal role in how the season unfolded. That said, no one could have predicted the path to this point.
Alex Georgiev went out with an injury last week and everyone was worried about the depth of the position. Two games later, he returned to the lineup and continued a stretch of very solid performances. He turned aside 28 shots on the night, playing perhaps the most pivotal role in the Avalanche win.
For Georgiev, it is the fourth start in five tries where he has looked very solid. Aside from an ugly win against the Carolina Hurricanes, in which he gave up four goals, he has allowed two or fewer goals in four of his last five starts. That’s the kind of performance we had become accustomed to and what the Avalanche need to catch up in the Central Division.
Slow Starts by Returning Players
Arguably the biggest talking point all season was about all the missing bodies in the Avalanche lineup. Back are Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin, the latter commenting that his substance issues and subsequent suspension are something he wants “to never happen again.”
Related: Avalanche’s 5 Biggest Talking Points So Far This Season
It is definitely nice to have both of them back in the lineup, but the early returns haven’t been great. Drouin has started to show signs of life by posting an assist in each of his last two games, but the team is still waiting for Nichushkin to find his groove since returning three games ago.
The big winger has been held pointless so far, though he at least seems to be finding his defensive game to an extent. With just over 18 minutes in ice time, he’s getting more than ample opportunity to regain his scoring touch and make an impact on the middle-six portion of the lineup. It’s still early in his season, so there is plenty of time for him to get back on track.
Rantanen on Fire
A lot of the attention paid to the Avalanche typically goes to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, with good reason. Having said that, Mikko Rantanen is having one of the best seasons of his impressive career while somehow flying under the radar of the NHL as a whole.
Rantanen scored against the Capitals, tying the game up late in the second period. It is his ninth goal over his last eight games and his fifth power play goal of the season. He is tied with several others for seventh in the NHL with 28 points and is tied with William Nylander and Kirill Kaprizov for fourth in the league with 13 goals.
Rantanen has had an impressive career already. He has accounted for 301 points over the past three seasons and yet is on pace to have the best season of his career (he’s currently on a 114-point pace). If he holds his scoring pace, Rantanen will finish with 53 goals, falling just short of the career-best 55 he tallied during the 2022-23 season.
Keeping Pace in the Central
The only bad thing for the Avalanche is that they are just treading water in the Central Division. The Minnesota Wild won again, bringing their record to 7-2-1 over their last 10 games. The Jets and Dallas Stars won on Wednesday night as well, meaning the Avalanche didn’t gain any ground with the win.
The division is as tough as it gets. Even teams like the St. Louis Blues and Utah Hockey Club are playing tougher than their records indicate. The Avalanche have serious work ahead of them if they are to at least maintain their hold on a wild card spot, let alone catch up to the Stars or Wild for a divisional playoff spot.
