The Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season opener. Regardless of a superb efficiency from Mikko Rantanen, they have been defeated 8-4 at T-Cellular Area on Wednesday evening. The Avalanche started robust, taking an early lead with a ravishing 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 workforce, however three all-too-familiar traits began to emerge that have to be saved an eye fixed on because the season progresses.
Offence Can’t At all times Carry The Group
The Avalanche’s offence was robust all through the sport. That they had a strong begin, controlling a lot of the primary half of the primary interval. They saved tempo with the Golden Knights till about halfway by way of the third interval, when Rantanen’s third purpose of the evening introduced the Avalanche inside a purpose 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 at the start 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 influence. On his three targets, the puck was on and off his stick within the blink of an eye fixed. Colorado doesn’t have a lot depth proper now, so the large weapons should maintain scoring in the event that they need 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 appeared to be the strongest of the three, making a superb play on the third Avalanche purpose, however he additionally misplaced monitor of his man on the fourth Vegas purpose. Ivan Ivan was relentless on the forecheck however didn’t get a lot ice time within the third interval.
There was little doubt the Avalanche would don’t have any bother scoring targets with all of their expertise. The issue is, can they rating targets and maintain that lead with the assistance of their goaltender? Each recreation cannot 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 properly, however the defence struggled within the recreation. Colorado’s usually-reliable defence had some lapses, notably in the course of the Knights’ energy play when Victor Olofsson scored a purpose late within the second interval. Devon Toews tried to dam the shot however was unsuccessful. The purpose from Olofsson to make it 5-3 was created by a nasty break from Makar when he was unsuccessful in dumping the puck from his personal zone shortly. It was shortly held in earlier than it crossed the blue line, and Vegas arrange once more.
Ivan Barbashev scored an spectacular second purpose 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 push likelihood that resulted in a purpose. These two targets have been notably 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 essential 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 incidence.
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 scenario repeated within the opener. The Knights scored 5 occasions on Georgiev on simply 16 photographs. Followers involved about this workforce’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 right 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 a lot better.
Is it time for the Avalanche to push the panic button? General, no. It’s solely the primary recreation of the season, and loads of hockey stays to be performed. Nonetheless, the goaltending scenario may grow to be a problem 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 reasonably than later. The Avalanche are again on Saturday, Oct. 12, towards the Columbus Blue Jackets of their house opener. The silver lining is that Georgiev had a poor efficiency in Recreation 1 of the 2024 postseason however shortly bounced again and carried out properly within the first spherical towards the Winnipeg Jets, so let’s hope we are able to see that from him once more this season.
Once you step again and breathe, you understand it’s solely the primary recreation of an 82-game season. There can 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, will probably be a protracted season with a variety of work to be carried out if the traits don’t reverse themselves.
