DENVER — The Avalanche fell to 0-2 after another uninspiring goaltending performance at Ball Arena on Saturday. Jack Johnson and the Columbus Blue Jackets scored five times before the game was halfway through and held the lead the rest of the way, defeating Colorado 6-4. This evening didn’t have a whole lot of good, but two players shared the bad, and you probably have an idea of who those guys might be.
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READ MORE: Avalanche Stumble In 6-4 Home Opener Loss vs Columbus
The Bad: Alexandar Georgiev & Justus Annunen
It’s been an abysmal start to the season for Alexandar Georgiev. It’s less than ideal for the Avs to have him playing this way given the number of forwards they’re missing but it’s also a terrible way to play going into a contract year. Georgiev, of course, has plenty of time to recover but it’s not been great. Even his one full preseason game was bad. Columbus, which isn’t supposed to be a top team this year by any means, put three pucks past Georgiev on nine shots. He was pulled after the third goal and replaced, again, by Justus Annunen. When combined with his Vegas performance, Georgiev has stopped 17 of 25 shots through 61:57. And it’s not just about the eight goals he’s let in, it’s about how saveable most of them have looked.
Annunen, again, didn’t look any better. He got a pass on Wednesday for coming in cold against a good team in a tough environment. But, at home against the Jackets? It’s not quite the same. Especially when you consider that Annunen came in with Colorado trailing 3-1 and his team scored two goals before he even faced a shot. And when he finally faced that first shot tied at 3-3, he let Columbus regain the lead. The Jackets eventually added another on their fifth shot before Annunen settled in.
But it was too late. Had Annunen found his game earlier, the Avs could’ve taken a 3-3 game into the third period. But they instead had to play catch-up the rest of the way and were stymied several times by a strong goaltending performance from Daniil Tarasov. Maybe someday the strong goaltending will come from one of their guys. I wonder where Kaapo Kahkonen is right now.
The Good: Casey Mittelstadt
Last year the Avs had second-line wingers to start the season without a center to complement them given the failed Ryan Johansen experiment. Now, they have that center in Casey Mittelstadt but without Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, or Jonathan Drouin available against the Jackets, he’s got very little help on the wing.
Mittelstadt was flanked by Ross Colton and young Calum Ritchie on Saturday and managed another goal, albeit it came on the power play. The 25-year-old will eventually have better wingers, but after a strong camp and a goal in Vegas, Mittelstadt continued to produce against all odds. I genuinely believe Mittelstadt is on his way to a career year. He’s a great playmaker and showed flashes of that late last season. But until he has wingers who will score more regularly at 5-on-5, he’s showing he can put the puck in the net himself.
