Avalanche Skate: Back To Georgiev, Coach Gabriel Landeskog

This should come as no surprise, especially given the situation with Justus Annunen, but the Colorado Avalanche are going right back to Alexandar Georgiev in Game Two.

Georgiev was in the starters net for morning skate, meaning he will be the guy who starts in net for the Avalanche. Whether or not he finishes the game is another question entirely.

Ivan Prosvetov got the call yesterday from the Colorado Eagles, and will back up Georgiev. He was in a great mood during morning skate, dancing in the net and keeping everyone on the ice loose. He’s a vibrant personality, but he’s also a guy who has NHL experience. That’s important for the Avalanche to have just in case things go sour on Tuesday night.

“He’s a more experienced guy, and he played well for us at times when he was up here,” Bednar said. “Since he’s gone down, he’s really played well for the Eagles and given them a chance. They were playing the other night in a big hockey game for our American League team, and that’s part of it. Now we need a goalie up here, so we brought him up.”

Justus Annunen is still not available to the team due to illness.

The Avalanche played as well as they possibly could in Game One, giving up just 23 shots on net, but they’re saying all the right things.

“There’s a lot of positives, for sure,” Mikko Rantanen said Tuesday morning. “I think seven goals against, so obviously there’s something that we can clean up in front of Georgie, try to help him a little bit more. Just the little mistakes were costing us in high-percentage, so try to clean up those and keep the same way in the attack.”

Captain Gabriel Landeskog took to the ice with the team, but not in any gear. He wore track pants and a hoodie, and was tapping guys on the shinpads and cheering for them when they scored. He’s not going to play this series, but the team likes having him around.

“I think he helps our team morale,” Bednar said. “Landy is just a great person, player, sort of extension of the coaching staff. A guy that anyone on our team can go to, lean on with any sort of issues. He has a really good understanding of our overall team concept game, attitude that we want to have. Been with us and won with us, and I think having him around, it’s just good for morale all around.”

Nathan MacKinnon Pre-Game Availability