Cale Makar’s historic night helps Avalanche light up Alexandar Georgiev

The Colorado Avalanche faced old goaltender Alexandar Georgiev on Thursday night.

And this time, they got to be on the other side of things.

The Avs peppered Georgiev with goals early and often, scoring five in the first 31 minutes of the game. They easily rolled a very bad San Jose Sharks team by a final score of 7-3.

Superstar defenseman Cale Makar had a historic evening, registering six points, the most by a defenseman in Avalanche franchise history. He had two goals and four assists, also making some NHL history dating back to the 1980s.

Cale Makar of the @Avalanche is the first NHL defenseman with 2+ goals and 4+ assists in a game since Paul Coffey on March 14, 1986. pic.twitter.com/p1MWxlPQOO

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) March 7, 2025

That’s just silly good from Makar, and he was able to do to Georgiev what so many Colorado opponents did over the last couple of years. That’s find the net and assist teammates in doing the same way too many times.

Colorado GM Chris MacFarland shipped Georgiev out of town in December, acquiring goalie Mackenzie Blackwood in return. Blackwood was solid for the Avalanche on Thursday, making 32 saves and allowing three goals. Although two came in garbage time with Colorado up 7-1. The Avs clearly won the trade, and it was time for a change to be made.

When Georgiev left once and for all four months ago, he was 47th in the NHL at the time allowing 3.38 goals per game. His .874 save percentage was a pathetic 51st. There’s only 32 teams in the league, so both those stats were inexcusable.

Things haven’t gotten much better in San Jose, as entering the night Alexandar Georgiev had a .879 save percentage and was giving up 3.54 goals per game. Both those numbers will get a chunk worse after this one.

Joel Kiviranta made it 1-0 with a shorthanded goal fewer than five minutes into the game. Makar scored on the power play shortly after and the floodgates were open. Jonathan Drouin joined the party at the very end of the first period and Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon both scored in the second. A sixth goal was called off for goaltender interference in the final moments of that period. 

In the third, it was MacKinnon and Makar both getting their second tallies of the night. This one turned into a massive laugher.

Overall, it was probably sweet for the Avalanche to light up Georgiev. Perhaps it felt a little personal, perhaps not, but he was just never a fit in Colorado. Part of it wasn’t his fault, coming in right after the team won the Stanley Cup in 2022, and part of it was. He never lived up to expectations and the Avs constantly found themselves down big with Georgiev in net.

Meanwhile, Colorado is now 4-0-0 on a crucial six-game homestand. With the trade deadline looming on Friday afternoon, MacFarland made another massive move during the game on Thursday, acquiring Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders.

With the way the Avalanche are playing right now, trading Alexandar Georgiev months ago and still adding other pieces, it’s clear MacFarland is pursuing another Stanley Cup this season.

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