Avalanche earn huge win, but the elephant in the room grows larger

The Colorado Avalanche did something special on Tuesday night in Buffalo.

Let’s make that clear out of the gate.

Down 4-0 after the first period, the Avs looked left for dead against the Sabres. We had all seen this movie before, and quite frankly way too many times this season. Starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev gave up four goals on eight shots and had to make the skate of shame to Colorado’s bench.

Normally when that happened through the first 25 games, it was backup Justus Annunen coming in to try to bail out Georgiev. Not anymore.

Over Thanksgiving weekend the Avs shipped Annunen out of town, instead bringing in veteran backup Scott Wedgewood in a trade with the Nashville Predators. While many fans were perplexed at the move, trading a 24-year-old for a 32-year-old, right now Colorado’s front office is having the last laugh.

GM Chris MacFarland and president Joe Sakic were validated, as Wedgewood faced 22 shots and didn’t allow a goal. That set the stage for a massive Avalanche comeback, as they scored one time in the second period and four times in the third to pull of a stunning 5-4 win.

Nathan MacKinnon found the net twice, Artturi Lehkonen added the winner and the Avs are now 14-12-0 on the season. It’s not that impressive of a record on paper, but considering all the injuries the team has dealt with, most fans will take it.

But just because what happened in Buffalo was special, doesn’t mean we can ignore the elephant in the room. Georgiev remains a problem. Annunen was one too, and the frustrating soft goals he let up got him shipped out of town. Can Georgie be that far behind?

Entering Tuesday night, Georgiev had given up 3.31 goals per game and had a pitiful .875 save percentage. Those ranked 44th and 48th in the NHL, respectively. Considering there are only 32 teams in the league, that’s nowhere close to good enough. And those numbers are only going to get worse after his very poor outing against the Sabres.

People like to say in 2022 the Avalanche didn’t have great goaltending and still won a Stanley Cup. Let’s cool it on the Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz slander. Neither was even close to as bad as Georgie has been with the season nearly one-third of the way done.

One good comeback against a mediocre Buffalo team can’t change the mission for Sakic and MacFarland. They need to make a big move at the goaltending position in the next couple of months. Georgiev should be traded, and a legitimate Cup capable goalie brought in.

That’s easier said than done, but it’s Colorado’s reality. Even though he doesn’t have a new contract, Mikko Rantanen should be off limits. Still, if it takes including Ross Colton, Nikolai Kovalenko or Ivan Ivan to get that done, then so be it.

You can’t waste MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Rantanen in their primes because the starting goalie can’t stop a beach ball. It’s not fair to the talent those guys possess. They all deserve multiple rings in an Avalanche uniform.

Hopefully the rally against the Sabres is one that changes the direction of Colorado’s season, as Wedgewood showed he’s a capable backup.

Now a second and far more difficult goaltender trade still must be made.