Avalanche vs. Golden Knights: 3 takeaways from Colorado’s opening night loss
The Avalanche couldn’t get a save on their way to an 8-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights to open the season.
Here are three takeaways from T-Mobile Arena.
Hats off to Mikko
He might not have a new contract, but Mikko Rantanen did not forget how to deposit the puck into the back of the net. And if he doesn’t have a new contract soon, the price might start going up.
The big Finn doesn’t need the puck on his stick for long to make an impact, and on each of his three goals, the puck was on and off his stick in the blink of an eye. Colorado doesn’t have a ton of depth right now, so the big guns have to keep scoring if they want to keep their head above water.
Georgiev shelled
For the fans concerned about this team’s goaltending, Wednesday night isn’t going to make them feel any better. Colorado outshot the Golden Knights but Alexandar Georgiev wasn’t able to come up with the big save to keep the game close. Each time Colorado got one, the Golden Knights would come down to the other end and sneak one past Georgiev. Not all of them were his fault, but Colorado certainly needed more from their netminder.
Jared Bednar replaced Georgiev with Justus Annunen in the third, so he obviously wasn’t happy with what he saw. Annunen really didn’t fare much better.
The kids are…OK?
It was an up and down night for Colorado’s rookies. Calum Ritchie had chances to score but couldn’t hit the net and was benched briefly in the second period after a defensive mistake. Nikolai Kovalenko was probably the strongest of the three, making a nice play on the third Avalanche goal, but he also lost his man a bit on the fourth Vegas goal. Ivan Ivan looked relentless on the forecheck but didn’t play much in the third period.
Avalanche 4, Golden Knights 8
What happened: Colorado couldn’t outscore their goaltending, wasting a Mikko Rantanen hat trick on their way to an 8-4 loss.
What went right: The Avalanche star winger, who is in the final year of his contract, started the season hot, scoring three goals and providing most of the offense for his team.
What went wrong: That’s easy…goaltending. The Avalanche were the better team for most of the first period, but found themselves down 3-1 because their goalie couldn’t make a big save. That continued the rest of the night and ultimately was their downfall.
Between the pipes: Alexandar Georgiev was pulled after two periods, giving up 5 goals on just 16 shots. Justus Annunen played the third and gave up 2 goals on 4 shots.
What’s next: The Avalanche host the Columbus Blue Jackets at home Saturday. That game starts at 7 p.m. MST.