The Colorado Avalanche didn’t make it to the fifth period of this season before encountering a goaltending crisis.
Alexandar Georgiev was pulled from a second straight start, and Justus Annunen was again not the answer in relief. The result was a 6-4 loss Saturday night in the home opener at Ball Arena, and an ugly 0-2 start to the 2024-25 campaign.
Even the looming arrival of a third goalie to the mix after the Avs claimed Kaapo Kahkonen on waivers didn’t spur improvement from the two guys currently on the roster. Georgiev allowed three goals on nine shots, Annunen yielded two on his first eight minutes of relief and Colorado spent the second half of this contest chasing — just like the Avs did all night Wednesday in an 8-4 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Columbus scored twice on its first three shots of the game to put Colorado in an early hole. Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski got behind Josh Manson for a redirect on a rush play that started below the Colorado goal line to make it 1-0 at 6:38 of the opening period.
That one wasn’t on Georgiev. The next two were.
Kent Johnson collected the puck on his own end and weaved from left to right while both teams were changing. His unscreened shot from the right circle beat Georgiev to the short side 67 seconds after the Werenski tally.
Nathan MacKinnon scored with eight seconds left in the first period to pull the Avalanche within a goal. His rebound on the power play also gave rookie Ivan Ivan his first NHL point.
Georgiev yielded a goal on the first shot he faced to start the second period, and his night was done. Adam Fantilli beat him with another lefthanded shot from the right circle after collecting the puck on his half of the ice at 1:56 of the second.
Calvin de Haan was visibly upset with Georgiev on the ice. Miles Wood went to the bench and smashed his stick. Jared Bednar wasted no time telling Annunen to warm up.
Wood collected himself and scored 15 seconds later. He put one home from the slot and then slammed the glass behind the Columbus net after making it a 3-2 game.
Colorado struck again on the power play at 3:42 of the second, just 11 seconds after drawing the penalty. Casey Mittelstadt collected the deflected point shot from Cale Makar and shoveled in his second backhanded goal near the right post in as many games.
Suddenly, the Avs were right back in it. Just like opening night in Las Vegas, that didn’t last long.
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Annunen did not start off any better in the net. He got a piece of the first shot he faced from Kirill Marchenko at 4:33 of the second, but not enough of it, and Columbus went back in front.
The Blue Jackets made it a 5-3 lead before the halfway point. Yegor Chinakhov finished a 2-on-2 rush play with Sean Monahan at 9:49, and the Avalanche had officially allowed 13 goals in the first 100 minutes of its season.
Bednar and his players said there was a lot that they liked in the opening loss against Vegas. That was a much better team, on the road. This was a team expected to be in the running for a top lottery pick, at home.
Until someone starts stopping the puck, it will be hard to evaluate where the rest of the team is. It was going to be a challenging October, given the guys who are missing, but this start has been pretty close to a worst-case scenario.
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