Colorado’s Georgiev rebounds with a solid effort in win over Jets

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This article was published 24/04/2024 (503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Today’s lesson is brought to you by the letter R, as in resilience.

And resilience is what a team brings to the table when it’s been to the top of the mountain recently, such as the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.

After dropping the series opener by a 7-6 score to the Winnipeg Jets, the Avalanche spent the past couple of days saying all of the right things and focusing on their preparation.

The Avs knew full well what was at stake Tuesday and didn’t want to find themselves in a 2-0 hole as the series shifts to Denver for games 3 and 4.

With that in mind, the Avalanche battled back from a pair of one-goal deficits before pulling away late in the second period in what became a 5-2 victory over the Jets before a stunned Whiteout crowd of 15,225 at Canada Life Centre.

“When you come into the playoffs, you have to be resilient,” said Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson, the son of former Jets 1.0 blue-liner Dave Manson. “There are going to be roller-coasters, ups and downs — and with that win in 2022, that was a big focus of ours. Not letting frustration set in, whatever it may be. Just being that resilient… just keep pushing forward and sticking to your game plan and the results will come.

“We have a few guys in our room that have been there — and we’ve got more guys that have been in the same situation on other teams in the playoffs. It’s something that we know we have, that resiliency and how important it is in the playoffs.”

Do they ever. Colorada was able to shake off the disappointing loss in the series opener and heads home even at 1-1 with its Central Division rival, turning this into a best-of-five with a race to three more wins.

Much of the discussion going into the contest revolved around how goalie Alexandar Georgiev would play after giving up seven goals on 23 shots he faced Sunday.

But with Justus Annunen “still sick” and unavailable, Georgiev rebounded with a solid effort, making 28 saves and shaking off the Bronx cheers that occasionally rained down on him.

“I try to enjoy it. I’ve seen the atmosphere here before on YouTube,” said Georgiev, who led the NHL in wins (38) during the regular season and appeared in 63 games. “It’s one of the more fun buildings, probably, in the playoffs, the way that they come together — and the whole crowd is white. It’s super fun, even though I don’t really focus on them. But you feel the energy, you feel the atmosphere, you feel how important it is, how much fun those games are.”

Georgiev said he changed his routine slightly, taking fewer shots at the morning skate and working to take a more positive mindset into the contest.

Whether or not it was related to the change, he looked settled in the crease and seemed to appreciate the vote of confidence he received going into the second game.

“They showed so much support to me over the last couple of days. A very rough first game, obviously,” said Georgiev. “I just felt so much trust in the room from everybody and I appreciate it so much. It helped me reset, to know that they have got my back. I know I’ll help them out as well during this playoff. It was huge from them. I appreciate it.”

Georgiev’s teammates appreciated his efforts as well.

“I don’t know if we made it easier or not but he played great. He was awesome,” said centre Nathan MacKinnon. “Our goal is to be really good defensively every night and (we were) definitely better.”

“ I thought he was very calm, he was square, he controlled rebounds,” added forward Andrew Cogliano. “I thought we did a good job in front of him but, ultimately, he stood tall for a couple big saves when we needed them and had a huge bounce-back game. Hopefully, he builds some confidence.”

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar was raving about Georgiev’s ability to rebound.

“Listen, more so than any other player on your team, the goalie and some of your stars, like when things go well, they’re going to get the credit, and when things go poorly, they’re going to take a lot of the blame. It is what it is and nobody’s perfect,” said Bednar. “You can imagine coming in here, not having a good night as a team, not having a good night on the defensive side and if you give up seven as a goalie, what type of things you’re reading online, what you’re hearing from everyone. Everyone goes immediately to doubt and criticism.

“So, to be able to sort of put that aside, focus on his process, just like we would with the team, being mentally strong, resilient and then go out and prove people wrong in Game 2, that’s a tough job to do. Because you are the last line of defence. Fifty percent of the questions I’ve had over the last three days with three media availabilities are going to be about (Georgiev). But to be able to fight through that, get focused on what he needs to do, I thought he was outstanding and he deserves all the credit because our team was better, but it wasn’t that much better. But he was much better and he gave us a chance to win and we did win and now we have to go repeat it.”

On Monday, Manson expressed his disappointment with a couple of defensive miscues that ended up in the back of the net in the series opener. But he was a physical force Tuesday, finishing with six hits and delivering the back-breaker goal that made it 4-2.

After serving coincidental roughing minors with Gabriel Vilardi, Manson jumped out of the box as the penalty expired, took a pass from MacKinnon, went in on a breakaway and beat Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck with 6.9 seconds to go in the second period.

“You don’t get those often,” said Manson. “And just to be able to put it away, that was nice. It was, obviously, not my best effort in Game 1, so I wanted to focus on that. Those things happen like that sometimes, so it was nice.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld