Did somebody forget to give Sid the Kid the memo?
On a Wednesday night when we were all supposed to stand up and cheer for Avalanche coach Jared Bednar and his well-deserved contract extension, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby gave Colorado a face wash during a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena with way too many rowdy Yinzers in the building chanting “Let’s go Pens!”
“It was a big moment for our team, right?” said Bednar, who stressed to his players in the dressing room prior to taking the ice that this game meant more than the average regular-season tilt. “We had a chance to go into first in our division.”
Bednar is worth every last penny of his contract extension, reported to be in the neighborhood of $5 million per season. But time and again, the resolve of his banged-up team to seize the moment in this wonky season hasn’t been worth two cents.
The loss to Pittsburgh put a screeching halt to Colorado’s six-game winning streak. If we put down the burgundy-and-blue glasses and look at that hot streak through clear and sober eyes, two things seem to be obviously true.
No. 1: Outside of a truly impressive victory in Toronto, the Avs picked on the dregs of the NHL, beating up on teams that won’t sniff the playoffs.
No. 2: Taking full advantage of a soft stretch in the late-season schedule, Colorado has put itself in solid contention to finish in first place, ahead of both Dallas and Minnesota, in the Central Division. As Bednar noted, the Avs could have done it against Pittsburgh, but wasted too much of the opportunity while sitting in the penalty box.
As the humbling loss to Pittsburgh reminded us, the defending champs haven’t flipped a switch, but might have put themselves in position to slowly rebuild that championship mojo during the early stages of the playoffs.
Rather than blare trumpets and bang drums to celebrate this new, three-year extension for Bednar, the Avalanche did a very hockey thing and treated a major commitment to the coach like just another day at the office.
“I love my job here and the players that I work with. We’ve got a good thing going and we’re excited to continue it,” Bednar said following the morning skate, talking with the same unflappable calm that served he and the Avs well during their run to the Stanley Cup a year ago.
Just as I was unafraid to question Bednar’s leadership when Colorado wobbled for a moment against St. Louis during last year’s playoffs, I am here to loudly applaud a rich reward for his success.
Bednar has officially been entrusted with keeping the team’s championship window pried open through 2027, overseeing a talented core of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen.
But as awe-inspiring as this team’s offensive firepower can be, if the Avs are going to have a real shot at winning the Cup in back-to-back seasons, the championship will have to be won with a strong defense and more buzz about goalie Alexandar Georgiev standing on his head than the dazzling skating of MacKinnon.
The insight and foresight demonstrated by the Avalanche front office in obtaining Georgiev from the New York Rangers in trade and trusting a goalie who had never started more than 32 games in any of his five NHL seasons with a huge responsibility for the defending champs now seems to be a masterstroke by Joe Sakic, Chris MacFarland and the team’s scouting staff.
Look at him now. Georgiev’s 32 victories rank second in the league, on par with NHL stalwarts like Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. On an injury-plagued Colorado team, Georgiev has done work worthy of Vezina Trophy consideration. But he has never done it under the white-hot glare of playoff pressure.
But, unlike a year ago, when the primary duty of goalie Darcy Kuemper was not to mess it up, Georgiev might well be asked to save his teammates’ bacon on the regular. Unless the Avs win the division, I’m not so certain they can win any round in the upcoming playoffs if Georgiev isn’t the best goalie in the series.
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