OffThePost.org

Avs go down 3-1 against the Preds, then roar back to win 7-4. Cale's best game in a long time. Nate retakes the Art Ross lead (for now).

Georgiev wasn't terrible in the game, but he wasn't great. Took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he shot the puck out of frustration after giving up the fourth goal to Nashville. Bednar yanked him right after that, and was surprisingly harsh in the postgame. I don't think we're seeing a goalie controversy brewing quite yet but there's still time yet.

Avs fans have taken to calling him "Fourgiev" for, well, you can figure it out. He was really, really good during the Avs' post-deadline win streak, and even in the shootout loss to the Rangers, he was excellent. Admittedly he had a very uneven season up until then though...Avs have no choice but to hope he's up for the task. I don't think putting their hopes and dreams in an untested rookie who's played well of late, but still hasn't really shown a lot at the NHL level, is feasible.

Most definitely worst effort of the season tonight in a 4-1 loss in Lumbus. Avs got some super-easy scoring opportunities early and thought they could coast to victory. Nope. Not tonight.

Bednar just refuses to give up on the third line of Wood-Colton-Parise even though they’ve been getting their brains beaten in every night. I get that their options are limited but he really needs to try something different.

News and notes:

Avs win in Minnesota 5-2. Annunen was quite solid after giving up a bit of a softie early in the game.

Nathan MacKinnon named 2nd Star of the Month for March.

Jonathan Drouin, who had arguably his best game of the year, is Colorado's nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. No surprise there.

Methinks we have a goalie controversy.

Two subpar performances in a row for Alexandar Georgiev. The 7-4 loss to the Stars was not necessary on him, he let in two that I think he should've had, but the 6-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, he let in at least FOUR that were simply inexcusable.

Past precedent suggests that Georgiev does not have the best attitude when it comes to having his role usurped. Reportedly he did not like it when Igor Shesterkin emerged as the #1 goalie, and his play suffered as a result. Now there's rumblings that Justus Annunen might be the better option, and that might be working its way into his head.

I still think the guy's a champ for reportedly punching Tony DeAngelo in the face with his blocker, but there is a growing concern here at about the worst possible time.

If he shits the bed tonight against Minnesota, I think Bednar will have no choice but to see what Annunen has. Keep in mind, he hasn't exactly been stellar either (wasn't necessarily his fault the Avs dropped a turd against the Habs, but he did let in at least one absolutely atrocious goal, and has not had a tremendous start to his NHL career overall).

Nathan MacKinnon sets the Minnesota Wylde defense on fire en route to a hat trick, four-point night, and his 50th and 51st goals, a career high and IIRC only the third Avalanche player to hit that milestone along with Milan Hejduk and Mikko Rantanen.

Avs also officially eliminated Minnesota from the playoffs in that game. 5-2 final, the third period was merely a formality.

Distinguishing between Avs and the franchise now

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

I won't have to for much longer.

Bednar said in a recent presser that there's a good chance Landeskog doesn't play at all this year, beforehand they were optimistic he might be ready after the first round, so they're definitely trying to lower expectations at the very least.

I don't think it's the end if he can't go this spring, but if he's still unable to go at camp in the fall of 2024...then I think he might be done.

2 full years, that's awful

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Well, just going to keep telling myself the 2021-22 Avs shat the bed in the final games of the regular season before their 16-4 run in the playoffs.

Two utterly disastrous losses, but strangely disastrous in their own way, in back-to-back games.

First one was a complete laugher on Saturday afternoon. 7-0 against the Jets who have had the Avs' number all season. It honestly didn't even look as close as the score would indicate. Not sure why the Avs look sooooooo bad in afternoon games but it's most definitely a thing.

So naturally, given they'd be playing the very next afternoon in Vegas, I thought they'd just get steamrolled again but...nope, they got my hopes up. 3-0 lead through two periods, and then, they just laid down. Maybe it was them just running out of gas in the 2nd half of a back to back (which one of the local media outlets refers to was SEGABABA and I'm not a fan) but also, Alexandar Georgiev had yet another subpar outing. Blew the 3-goal lead, penalty kill was a disaster, and then lost in OT.

They've taken to calling him "Fourgiev" online. And sure enough, how many did he give up to lose the game...?

I dunno, I don't have a great feeling about this team. Certainly not like I did two years ago, even with Nathan MacKinnon playing arguably the best hockey of anyone in the league.

Anyway, now we'll see who Bednar goes with against Edmonton.

Okay, NOW Nate has the all-time franchise mark.

Needs an * beside it, Statsny only had an 80 game season.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!