3 Avalanche Players Who Must Come Through Against the Jets – The Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche

It’s been a pretty good season for the Colorado Avalanche – except for their games against the Winnipeg Jets. The Avs struggled mightily against the Jets in their three games during the regular season, going 0-3 while being outscored 17-4. Colorado never had a lead in any of those games, despite outshooting the Jets in all three contests.

Colorado is going to need all hands on deck if the team wants to avoid a first-round playoff exit for the second year in a row. Of course, all eyes will be on the Avalanche superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar – but they will need plenty of help in order to change the team’s fortunes against the Jets. Here is a look at three players that must come through for Colorado if the Avs are going to make it through to the next round of the NHL Playoffs:

Alexandar Georgiev

This is the most obvious thing you will read all week. If Colorado’s goaltending doesn’t straighten things out, it will be a very, very short series. The pressure is on Alexandar Georgiev to perform, and that’s been a tall order for him recently. He has struggled mightily recently, going 2-3-2 over the last seven games. He allowed a total of 28 goals over those seven contests, and had a save percentage higher than .872 just twice. That doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence.

To make things worse, he’s 0-2 with seven goals allowed on just 42 shots in his two combined appearances against the Jets this season. Putting his recent inconsistency together with his struggles against Winnipeg had some clamoring for backup Justus Annunen to start for Colorado in the playoff opener. It would be a surprise if Jared Bednar made a move that drastic, as the 24-year-old backup has appeared in just 14 games this season.

Related: Avalanche Must Fix Goaltending Before it Sinks Title Chances

If it comes down to seeing Annunen, it means things aren’t going Colorado’s way. This would be a no-pressure situation for Annunen, even if he were thrown into the fray against Winnipeg in Game 1. That would mean things clearly aren’t going as planned for the Avalanche, making it pretty unlikely. That means the buck stops with Georgiev. Forget MacKinnon’s potential Hart Trophy-winning season, or the fantastic years put up by Rantanen or Makar. If Georgiev continues to sputter in the playoffs, Colorado’s postseason could be over before the calendar turns to May.

Zach…