The Colorado Avalanche came out looking every bit as exhausted as you might expect for arriving at their hotel in Edmonton at 3:45 a.m. Friday morning.
The legs weren’t there, the goaltending imploded, but most concerning is perhaps the second period injury sustained by Mikko Rantanen which ended his night.
Here are the key takeaways from Friday night’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers:
Ambulanche
The result Friday night ultimately is small potatoes compared to the status of star winger Mikko Rantanen. Midway through the second period Oilers defender Mattias Ekholm blind-sided Rantanen with a tremendous hit that left the Avalanche winger on the ice and ultimately ended his game early.
Rantanen went straight down the tunnel after being helped off the ice, looked dazed, and would not return. With only five more games remaining before the Stanley Cup Playoffs the oft-injured Avalanche will see their odds at another championship greatly diminished if the prognosis of Rantanen is severe.
Sieve
There isn’t any excusing or avoiding the topic anymore: Alexandar Georgiev is playing very poorly. There is always a temptation when a younger rookie shares a position with a veteran in sports to exaggerate the downfall of that veteran and clamber to see the new kid rise.
This isn’t that. Friday night was a flat-out terrible effort from Georgiev who saw six (!!) goals trickle in, including four that were traveling at slow speeds.
Goals came from bad rebounds, unsealed posts, trickled in five-hole, came in-and-out of his glove and into the net, you name it. Thirty-five saves on 41 shots is honestly dressing-up an embarrassing outing that saw the Avalanche goalie post a .854% Save Percentage.
Forget the advanced analytics. This performance in net Friday night was one you could smell through the screen. Justus Annunen has been stellar, and Alexander Georgiev has been dreadful. It’s time to have the conversation about Annunen in Game 1 of the playoffs.
Killer
The brightest spot for the Avalanche tonight was their penalty kill. Getting Valeri Nichushkin and Yakov Trenin back from injury had the elite penalty kill in rare form. The Edmonton Oilers entered this game ranked second in the NHL, converting on 27.0% of their power plays. The Avalanche killed off all five penalties on Friday.
A team known for doing damage on the power play was completely neutralized in that area, making the goaltending, which allowed some truly unacceptable goals at even strength, that much more painful.
Looking Ahead
The Avalanche have a much-needed day off on Saturday before returning home on Sunday, April 7, to host the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars in a game that will potentially decide the division. Puck drop is at 8:00 p.m. MDT and will be nationally broadcast on ESPN.
(Featured Image Credit: AP Photo)
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