The Colorado Avalanche dropped their season opener in Vegas, 8-4 (!). Here are the Studs and Duds for the Avs from the game.
Studs
Mikko Rantanen
I thought it curious yesterday when Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland addressed the media yesterday and when asked about Mikko Rantanen, he seemed a little casual about the situation.
Rantanen’s hat trick tonight was an emphatic reminder of how special he can be and why he’s considered one of the big guns. He scored three goals tonight and it could have been five. He was awesome.
Normally, Rantanen is the guy who produces great stat lines and drives me crazy with other aspects of his game. Not the case at all tonight. I loved his game. I’m sure he appreciates that.
Josh Manson
I loved Manson’s game. He was fiery, laying a few solid hits throughout the night, but also good with the puck and disciplined in his game. How many times do we get to the end of the night and Manson has drawn a penalty and taken none?
Everything we want to see from Manson, we saw tonight. Honestly, his pairing with Sam Girard was strong all game. When on the ice head-to-head against Jack Eichel, Manson broke even in shot attempts (7-7), though gave plenty of ground in scoring chances (5-1 Vegas).
Against the rest of the Golden Knights forward lines, Manson went 15-2 in shot attempts. That is defensive excellence. Manson isn’t a top-pairing defenseman anymore, but it’s encouraging that he even held his own against Eichel in that matter, especially in a game where Eichel’s line was on fire and easily Vegas’ best offering up front.
This was a strong outing from Manson.
Casey Mittelstadt/Nikolai Kovalenko
I liked them together, in particular, so I’m including them as a duo here. Kovalenko was what you want to see from a rookie: a little unsure at times with some bad defense (see: Zach Whitecloud’s goal where Kovalenko goes full Rocket League “follow the puck aimlessly” mode), but lots to like on offense.
Kovalenko’s forechecking and playmaking were both excellent. It was his outlet feed through the neutral zone to Ross Colton that eventually led to Mittelstadt’s goal.
That goal was good stuff from Mittelstadt, too, and consistent with his game the rest of the night. He made smart, efficient decisions with the puck. He put the puck into dangerous areas when he saw opportunities to and he pulled it back out to reload when there was nothing there. That’s what we hope to see from him all season.
Mittelstadt’s goal was going to the net and getting a good bounce. Hockey can be rewarding sometimes.
I liked what those two had to offer and it is not hard to be excited about what they could look like someday when Artturi Lehkonen is ready to get back into the lineup and play alongside them if Kovalenko can maintain this level of play.
The offense in general
It wasn’t an overwhelming offensive effort from Colorado, but they continued pushing and pushing in this game. They had long stretches of quality play in stringing together good shifts in the Vegas zone and pushing hard.
They had the same problem as last season as they had the puck a lot but struggled at times to generate much traffic in front of the opposing goaltender and were one-and-done on shots from the perimeter too much, but I think that’s the reality for this forward group until one or two of the big-name reinforcements show up.
There were many chances for this team to fold up shop in this game but they continued pushing until that sixth Vegas goal, which took the last of the wind from Colorado’s sails.
There was a lot to like on this side of the puck, though, and I think there are building blocks here. The addition of Mittelstadt as a meaningful threat helps push that rock forward and if the second line can fully flesh out, the Avs will be fine.
Duds
Goaltending
It obviously starts here with Alexandar Georgiev because giving up five goals on 16 shots in the first game of a season that could determine the course of the rest of Georgiev’s career is nothing short of a nightmare.
There is no goodwill for Georgiev after a poor season-long performance last year, so he’s going to have to turn things around quickly or the Avs will have to start seriously looking around for help.
I just don’t see how you get around multiple goals being bad goals. The first Vegas goal is awful. Pick a goal after that and you don’t like to see those, either. The Avs made mistakes in front of him because, you know, it’s the NHL. You pay a goaltender to erase those mistakes.
Georgiev gave up one high-danger goal (on just three chances), three medium-danger goals, and one low-danger goal. I say this only to stem the tide of, “But AJ, didn’t you SEE the defense in front of him?” I did, and it wasn’t nearly bad enough to justify five goals on 16 shots, friends. It just wasn’t.
Annunen wasn’t much better as he’s credited with two goals against on four shots, but actually gave up three after one was waved off because Vegas was called for a penalty right before. Even with the bailout, he finished with a .500 save percentage.
I’m not here to argue individually which goals are on the goaltender and the defense because it’s a team game and that also means there’s another NHL team on the ice (that Ivan Barbashev goal was incredibly cool, let’s be real), but there is no getting around the fact that seven goals on 20 shots is a farce.
It better be an anomaly that drags down their stats for the next six weeks and not a sign of things to come.
Untimely mistakes
Outside of watching the matador-esque approach to stopping pucks, this was the aspect that bothered me the most from Colorado. They would score and climb back into the game, then do something incredibly dumb.
To wit, after making the game 4-3, Miles Wood takes the jaw-droppingly stupid penalty for boarding a guy whose back was turned the entire time. There was no reason for it. Vegas scored on the ensuing power play (after a terrible failed clear by Cale Makar, another big mistake) and it was back to a two-goal deficit for a third time.
The Avs closed again to 5-4 and Devon Toews accidentally clipped a guy with his stick and got a four-minute penalty. Vegas scored five seconds later to make it 6-4 and the game was essentially over.
Vegas executed when they needed to, but Colorado could not get out of their own way. Those kinds of self-defeating, stupid mistakes were all too common last year and as long as they continue, it will raise the question of Colorado’s current leadership structure and the wisdom of continuing to hold on to the dream of Gabe Landeskog coming back to help fix this stuff.
On a side note, Wood was pretty bad overall in this game and, to my eye, was outplayed a bit by Ivan Ivan. That can’t continue for Wood or for the Avs.
Cal Ritchie
This was a tough debut performance for the kid and a harsh reminder of why not many teenagers stick in the NHL. Ritchie had a so-so preseason and is being given this initial look as his skills and the team’s needs nicely align right now, but this won’t continue if Ritchie’s play doesn’t pick up.
Obviously, this isn’t a commentary on Ritchie’s viability as a long-term NHL player or anything like that, but in this game, he just wasn’t good. He was too tentative to shoot, missed the net when he had chances, and overplayed the puck multiple times. Defensively, he got lost in transition a bit.
He even got benched for a short time during the second period as Colorado moved Ross Colton to Mittelstadt’s wing to replace Ritchie and moved Parker Kelly to Colton’s spot as the 3C. That shift resulted in a goal, but the Avs went back to Ritchie in the third period, especially with the goaltender pulled late in the game.
With that initial shock of NHL speed out of the way, I would look for a much better effort from Ritchie on Saturday night.
Avs Unsung Hero
Nathan MacKinnon
There were moments of brilliance, as there always are. MacKinnon finished with two assists and hit the post on a breakaway in the third period that would have won the DNVR bet of the night on bet365 (shameless plug, leave me alone).
He was dangerous offensively all night. He was Nathan MacKinnon, the MVP you expect to see. He went head-to-head against Jack Eichel and Mark Stone and had them back on their heels quite a bit in the game.
The real problem here was one 90-second stint late in the first period where MacKinnon had terrible transition coverage and lost Ivan Barbashev, who scored on the backdoor, and then stopped skating getting back in transition and Mark Stone beat him.
What was a 1-1 game turned into a 3-1 game as MacKinnon blew primary coverage twice in a row against the best forward line Vegas had to offer. It’s just unacceptable from your best forward. He has to be better than that. Way better.