We’re about halfway through the season, and the question at this point might be – do the Colorado Avalanche have a real goaltending problem?
Ivan Prosvetov got the start in net for the Avalanche on Saturday, and it didn’t go well at all. Alexandar Georgiev has been wildly inconsistent in net, and has probably been overworked at this point in the season. After the 8-4 loss to the Florida Panthers, Jared Bednar didn’t really mince words about his goaltending.
Read Bednar’s thoughts on the game, and watch what veterans Andrew Cogliano and Cale Makar had to say in the locker room.
Bednar on an ugly first period for the Avalanche:
“Not good enough. Two of the first three goals, the first goal is just routine coverage. We duplicate on a guy below the goal line, leave the net front open, and then we’re covering for the ‘D’ in the offensive zone, then we don’t stay there, and they get a breakaway. I didn’t like those two goals. The other ones are probably on the goaltending. I thought our fight was good to come back, stay with it, tie it 3-3, 4-4. Then we get the double minor and the shot over the glass, and game kind of gets away from us at the end. Hard fought game. I thought our guys played hard in a lot of areas. Just a little bit of a sleepy start. Not good enough as a team.”
Bednar on pulling Prosvetov:
“I didn’t like some of the first four goals. Certainly didn’t like the fourth one, so I wanted to give our team a chance. If they were going to battle like the way they did in the second period to come back, so I wanted to give them the best chance to try and succeed if they were going to dig in, which they did, so that’s why the timing of the pull.”
“It’s not like we gave up a ton of scoring chances in the first, but we need a save, and we’re going to need to be better in some of those routine plays.”
Bednar on if they consider another option in net (Justus Annunen):
“Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll talk about that. We’re in a stretch where there’s no easy games coming up. There’s no easy games period, but especially in the stretch we’re in.”
Bednar on the Colton penalty and if he got an explanation as to why no initial penalty was called:
“I didn’t get (an explanation), so that was my thoughts exactly. I don’t think they saw it, and then he goes down, and all of the sudden they’re doing a review.”
Bednar on Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram:
“He’s going to miss a handful of games here. Lower body. Not serious at this point, so 7-10-14 days, some place in there. We put him on the IR today, so he’s going to miss at least 7.”