The Colorado Avalanche came into the season with championship aspirations and Alexandar Georgiev as their top goaltender.
Two months in, Colorado was scuffling and made bold moves to reshape its goaltending tandem. The Avalanche dealt backup Justus Annunen and a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Scott Wedgewood, and days later Georgiev was flipped to San Jose as part of a package for Mackenzie Blackwood.
On Thursday, Georgiev returns to Denver for the first time since being traded when Sharks visit Colorado to end a seven-game road trip.
Georgiev went from a contending team to a rebuilding one after struggling at the start of the year. He allowed 23 goals in his first six games and was pulled from his first two starts, eroding the confidence of his teammates.
“The first two games, I was really bad, and all of a sudden, I felt the trust in the goaltending kind of evaporated there,” Georgiev told San Jose HockeyNow.
After beginning his Sharks career by losing 13 of 15 decisions (2-12-1), he won his past two outings.
The Sharks dropped the first four games of the current road trip — two in overtime — but they would return home with a 3-2-2 mark if they can win on Thursday.
Georgiev likely will be in net after the Sharks traded Vitek Vanecek to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday for winger Patrick Giles. Vanecek and Georgiev were platooning in net before the move.
Giles joins a young Sharks roster, which is led in scoring by William Eklund’s 46 points (13 goals, 33 assists). Rookie Macklin Celebrini is second with 45 points (the same total as the now-departed Mikael Granlund), and Tyler Toffoli leads the team with 24 goals.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has more points (93) than Eklund and Celebrini combined and leads the NHL in both points and assists (70). Cale Makar leads all NHL defensemen with 68 points (22 goals, 46 assists), and Artturi Lehkonen tops the team with 26 goals.
The Avalanche can sweep the three-game season series with San Jose on Thursday and continue their push for better playoff positioning. Colorado is currently fourth in the Central Division, two points behind the Minnesota Wild.
The Avalanche hold the first Western Conference wild-card spot despite dealing with several injuries throughout the year. Currently, defenseman Josh Manson is out with a lower-body injury but is close to playing for the first time in a month.
Colorado boosted its defense corps last weekend by acquiring Ryan Lindgren from the New York Rangers.
Lindgren made his Avalanche debut in a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, Colorado’s third straight victory to open a six-game homestand.
“I thought I had a pretty good game,” said Lindgren, who was on the ice for 20:33. “I’m still learning obviously, learning the systems.”
Coach Jared Bednar was happy with Lindgren’s game.
“As far as puck play goes and defending hard in the zone, I thought he was our best (defenseman) tonight,” Bednar said. “It’s not flashy. He’s not going to wow you, but he’s effective getting things done.”
–Field Level Media
