Goaltending concerns the center of attention after Avalanche drop opener | NHL Insider

LAS VEGAS - Mistakes are bound to happen in professional sports. Being punished for every single mistake you make, though? That stings, and that’s exactly what happened to the Colorado Avalanche in their opening night loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

For large portions of the game, the Avalanche controlled the play. They outshot and out-chanced Vegas all night long, allowing just 21 shots against. What did they get to show for it?

An 8-4 loss.

“It’s not good enough,” head coach Jared Bednar said after the game of his teams' goaltending in the opener.

That might be putting it lightly.

Outside of what is going to happen with winger Valeri Nichushkin when he’s reinstated by the NHL, the biggest question mark facing the Avalanche this season is their goaltending. Alexandar Georgiev was erratic last season, and while Justus Annunen played well down the stretch, he’s largely unproven at the NHL level.

Wednesday’s performance isn’t going to make anyone feel better about the situation.

Georgiev’s night came to an end after just two periods. He allowed 5 goals on just 16 shots and there were at least a few that he’d probably want back. Annunen didn’t fare any better, giving up 2 goals on just 4 shots. He was even beat cleanly on another chance, but the goal was called back due to a Vegas penalty in front of the net.

Pulling your starting goaltender in the first game of the season is far from ideal, but Bednar wasn’t really left with much of a choice.

“It’s always tough,” Bednar said after the game. “I want to give our guys leeway to bounce back from mistakes, and lots of players get that opportunity. Goalies don’t always get that...it’s never easy to pull a goalie, because often, it’s not just their play, it’s your teams play in front of them.”

And Bednar was not happy with one part of his team's game – rush coverage. By his count, four of Vegas’ eight goals on Wednesday came off botched coverage in transition by his team. Some of those coverage issues happened to involve veteran players. You need a save from your goalie at some point, but there are still things to clean up.

“Big mistakes,” Mikko Rantanen, who picked up a hat trick, said after the game. “If they only had 20 shots, maybe it wasn’t that many, but maybe the quality was too good for them.”

Will Georgiev get the opportunity to redeem himself on Saturday in the home opener against the Blue Jackets? It’s probably a safe bet to assume so. And the Avalanche are hoping that he’s able to bounce back like he did after game one in the Winnipeg series last Spring.

“We’ve talked about that. He was outstanding in the playoffs after game one,” Bednar said.

What I’m hearing

-- There’s a lot of responsibility on second-line center Casey Mittelstadt right now playing between two rookies, and he was up for the challenge on Wednesday. He scored a rebound goal in the second period and his coach was very pleased with his performance. “I thought (Mittelstadt) played really well tonight,” Bednar said. “I thought he was an effective player.”

-- Colorado’s trip to Vegas came at an unfortunate time. At 2:30 AM on Wednesday, the Tropicana, an old hotel in Las Vegas, was blown up. They do it in the middle of the night so that there are less people in the area when they implode it, but the flip side of that is that it’s probably going to wake anyone in the immediate area up. And that’s exactly what happened.

Several members of the Avalanche said they were rudely awoken by the implosion, with some saying it even shook their hotel room. Soon after, they realized there was no real danger and went back to bed. Then you have some, like Calum Ritchie, who were able to sleep right through it. He might have been busy dreaming of his NHL debut.

What I’m seeing

-- Speaking of Ritchie, he had some glorious opportunities in the first period to bury the puck. On two of his looks in the slot he just missed the net, and then on the third, he tried to pass it off, which didn’t work out. Defensively, he’s got a lot of work to do, and even found himself benched for a bit towards the end of the second period. The Avalanche didn’t really shelter him, though. He finished fifth among forwards in time-on-ice and was even used as the extra when Colorado pulled their goalie.

The other two rookies performed well, although there will be things to clean up. Nikolai Kovalenko made a mistake in defensive zone coverage on Vegas’ fourth goal, but he flashed in a big way offensively, particularly with his passing. He threaded a perfect breakout pass to Ross Colton just prior to the Mittelstadt goal. Ivan Ivan didn’t get a ton of playing time in the second half of the game, but looked solid early on and should get more looks.

-- The Avalanche were not the only team that had trouble keeping the puck out of the net in their first game. Edmonton, Vegas, and Boston, three playoff teams from last year, all gave up 6 goals against in their season openers. Vancouver blew a three-goal lead and lost in overtime while Edmonton was shutout 6-0. Team defense usually takes a bit of time to come together, so there is no reason for any team to panic right now.

What I’m thinking

-- The NHL doesn’t understand how to market their game at all. Either that or they just don’t care. Some of their decisions are truly baffling. The regular season technically started on Friday afternoon last week, and if social media was any indication, no one really knew that was happening. While most of the league was still playing preseason hockey, the Devils and Sabres played two real games over in Europe. The games came and went with very little hype surrounding them.

Then you’ve got the Seattle Kraken being forced to play their home opener at 1:30 in the afternoon (local time) on a Tuesday while kids are in school, and adults are working. Who is making these decisions?

-- Wednesday was my first visit to Vegas to cover a road game. Granted, it helps that the organization has been good from the second they stepped on the ice, but the fans really do seem to care. Just walk up and down the strip and you’ll see fans wearing Golden Knights jerseys everywhere, even in 100-degree heat. And as you would expect from Vegas, they put on one heck of a show at the arena, both inside and out. The NHL may have no idea how to market their game, but they hit the jackpot when they became the first professional sports league to land in Vegas.