The Colorado Avalanche were looking to follow up their best games of the season so far when they traveled North to Winnipeg on Thursday night. It would be a tall task however, facing the hottest team in hockey, the 12-1 Winnipeg Jets, who were coming off a great game of their own, a 3-0 shut out against Utah.
A win for Colorado would require a nearly perfect full 60 minute effort with a roster that is still very much depleted by injuries.
They were perfect…for 59 minutes.
In addition to injuries, the Avalanche are still negotiating a roster with 3 goaltenders on it. Alexander Georgiev got the net against the Jets in search of his second win of the season. There is not much question that the start to the season hasn’t been ideal, and unfortunately the start to the game Thursday was not either. A quick 2 on 1 in the first minute would give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game. A bobbled puck by Josh Manson in the neutral zone sprung Mark Scheifele on a 2 on 1 with Gabriel Vilardi and they were able to elude Samuel Girard as Vilardi scored his 6th of the season at 1:06. It was perfect execution by Winnipeg and not much at all that Georgiev could do to stop it.
Georgiev was sharp from that moment forward. He would turn away 14 more attempts in the first, 9 in the second, and only 4 in the third as his mates fought mightily against the Jets.
Aside from the first minute, it was a full send effort for the Avalanche. All of the details that Coach Jared Bednar had been hammering home these past weeks seemed to have been taking. Sure there will be some nit picking on areas as perfection is never really achieved, but all in all it was as complete a game as this team has played. The push for Colorado really game from the halfway mark on, and especially in the final 20 minutes. The Avalanche out shot Winnipeg 17-4, with Nate MacKinnon and Chris Wagner leading the way with 4 shots each on the night.
But for the second game in a row the man in the moment was Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, he picked up his second shut out in a row and third on the season, improving his numbers to a league leading 1.91 GAA and a .932 SV%. Quite frankly, he was the sole reason Winnipeg was able to survive the Avalanche this night.
Though last nights game will reside in the loss column, chalk it up to a huge moral victory. Unfortunately there are no points for that type of win, so depleted or not and with no set timeline on the arrival of the calvary, the Colorado Avalanche have to find ways to win with what they have.
And in my opinion, they will.
