April 28, 2024
Alexandar Georgiev post-game Sunday.
In different ways,
this is about Alexandar Georgiev and Valeri Nichushkin regaining
trust. The trust of their teammates, of their
coaches, and even of the Avalanche's hard-core fan base.
A few days ago, Georgiev -- the 28-year
old goalie from Bulgaria -- was in danger of being yanked from the starter's net for at least the rest of the 2024 playoffs
... and perhaps beyond. His teammates had lost faith in him. So had the coaching staff. Same with the Avalanche's hard-core
constituency.
Please don't even try to tell me that's presumptuous and unfair, or overdone.
Without knowing,
I'm convinced that's true.
And you can count me among those who believed it had gone beyond the point of no return and that
Jared Bednar -- despite complicated circumstances affecting the replacement pool -- needed to make a change in goal for Game
2 of the first-round series against Winnipeg. A change. Any change.
Georgiev was awful in Game 1, and that was in keeping
with much of his work down the stretch of the regular season. I heard the comparisons. He was the golfer with the yips on
the greens, the second baseman who suddenly couldn't make the throw to first, the wide receiver who had the dropsies.
He had 26 saves in the 5-1 Game 4 win over the Jets Sunday and while it would be silly to say he's become the 2024
version of Patrick Roy in the playoffs, he has been good enough the past three games. Good enough is what the Avalanche can
live with at this point, though at some point, he might be called upon to steal one. Let's give him credit for this: He could
have had a complete meltdown during this, lasting into Game 2, forcing Bednar's hand. Besides, it seems a safe bet that Justus
Annunen would have been the Game 2 starter if he hadn't been ill.
As talented as Colorado's 1996 and 2001 Stanley Cup champions
were, Roy had to stand on his melon (I love that kind of talk) in some games for the Avalanche to wind up hoisting the Stanley
Cup overhead. Roy would be angered by his occasional subpar games, and use them as motivation. He also sometimes could be
in denial.
That's what was
so remarkable about the 2022 championship team.
The Avalanche won with decent -- and no more than that -- goaltending. Last season, in fact, I was convinced that Georgiev
was an upgrade over Darcy Kuemper. But his shakiness this season has been impossible to wave off, despite his 38 regular-season
wins and an encouragement within the organizational sphere to pronounce every opposing goal as a bad-bounce fluke or the greatest
goal in the history of the league.
Look, there's no guarantee that Georgiev will remain as staunch as he's been the last three games. The 180-degree
reversal of attitudes about Georgiev have been, well, comical. Fact is, it wasn't "wrong" to advocate getting Georgiev
out of the crease for Game 2. It's what had to be done. It's what should have been done. But the bizarre circumstances led
to Bednar giving his goalie one more shot. So far, so good. Bednar wasn't even asked about Georgiev's play in his post-game
presser Sunday. No questions is good news.
Now, what of Nichushkin, the winger from Russia who had a hat trick in the win over the Jets as
the Avalanche took a 3-1 series lead? At times in the past year, it has seemed that it was rude to bring up his bizarre bailout
on the day of Game 3 in the first round in Seattle last year, and his absence for the rest of the Avalanche's one-round playoff
stay. Yet it's not outlandish to say that with Nichushkin available through the 2023 postseason, the Avalanche might have
made it out of that series and had a much better shot at repeating as Cup champions.
Then he was absent for two months this season while receiving care through the the NHL/NHLPA Player
Assistance Program. That's a much more sympathetic situation than his playoff exit a year ago, but as much as his teammates
-- both old and new after a significant roster tweaking this season -- seem to like him, he at the very least let the 2022-23
team down. But more so that Georgiev, he has regained that trust. After his hat trick Sunday night, he noted during the post-game,
on-ice interview that he felt "amazing," told the fans he loved them, and then with a huge smile, headed to the
dressing room. He had said enough.
Jared Bednar's Avalanche needs just one more
win to advance to the second round.
In the locker room, Nichushkin declined to be made available
to the media. For him, that remains more a lack of comfort with communicating
in English than obstinance.
“He's been awesome for us," said Cale Makar, who had a
spectacular goal against the Jets. "Obviously, he's a train driving that front end right now. So whether it's being in
front of the net or just being in the corners, I think especially for us as a D-core, we want to reward guys that are going
to the net. So [we] try and get pucks there for them or put it in their hands so they can make plays.”
Bednar noted:
"He's available for you and rock solid in almost every area of the game as a 200-foot player.
Players like that, you can't even describe what they bring to the team because it's like competitive, hard-working skill,
and they can play with anybody.”
Bednar had Nichushkin on the ice when the Jets' net was
empty, and that was a way of rewarding him with a chance to finish off the hat trick -- and he pulled it off with a 100-foot
shot from near the boards.
"He's doing great, he really is," Bednar said. "That's number one. You
want guys to be in good mental health and taking care of themselves. He's doing that. To be fair, he was playing really well
when he wasn't in great mental health. I just think long-term sustainability. You want your guys feeling right and at ease
away from the rink. You want them to be having fun when they're coming to the rink and be more productive."
Cale Makar after he had a spectaular goal against
the Jets. Watch it here
