Avalanche made a fatal error at the NHL trade deadline.
The Colorado Avalanche find themselves in a hole early, and it may be one of their own making.
If you're a fan of the Colorado Avalanche and you tuned in to Game 1 of their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets, you're probably already starting to worry.
The Avalanche coughed up 7 goals in their first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs on their way to a 7-6 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets, and following the game a lot of fingers were being raised and pointed squarely at the Avalanche's front office.
Leading up to the National Hockey League's trade deadline there were many who felt the Avalanche needed to address their goaltending situation in lieu of the injuries to goaltender Pavel Francouz, injuries that have since led to Francouz officially retiring from the sport. In fact you could argue that the Avalanche themselves realized this was an issue that needed addressing, as there were numerous reports linking the Avalanche to veteran goaltender Jake Allen.
NHL insider Darren Dreger even confirmed that the Avalanche and the Montreal Canadiens had held discussions regarding an Allen trade, but as things drew closer to the deadline it became clear the deal wouldn't get done. Allen would instead eventually be traded to the New Jersey Devils.
This may prove to be a fatal mistake.
Avalanche starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has been abysmal down the stretch, and to make matters worse Georgiev has been at his absolute worst when facing the Winnipeg Jets, the Avalanche's opening round opponent. Georgiev's numbers against the Jets this season have been truly awful with a 6.42 goals against average and a .785 save percentage in 3 games against Jets this season.
Georgiev was again abysmal in Game 1, giving up 7 goals despite an expected goals against of below 2.00.
There are many who believe this is a major problem for the Avalanche in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, including National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman.
"There's no question they have a Georgiev problem," said Friedman following Game 1.
In a terrible twist of fate for the Avalanche, goaltender Jake Allen has joined the Sportsnet broadcast for the Stanley Cup playoffs and was actually in studio as part of a panel analyzing Game 1 between the Avalanche and Jets. That left more than a few to wonder how things might have been different for the Avalanche last night if Allen had been on the ice as a backup goaltender rather than in studio.
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