Colorado’s netminding may be a concern after a poor outing by backup Ivan Prosvetov.
Colorado’s netminding may be a concern after a poor outing by backup Ivan Prosvetov.
Head coach Jared Bednar started goaltender Ivan Prosvetov against the Florida Panthers but pulled him after he allowed a stoppable goal.
The 24-year-old netminder had already allowed three goals on four shots but Bednar kept him in. The Avs battled back from the three-goal deficit to tie it but Prosvetov's mistake put the Cats back in the lead.
"I didn't like some of the first four goals. I certainly didn't like the fourth one. So I wanted to give our team a chance," Bednar said. "If they were going to battle like the way they did in the second period to come back, then I wanted to give them the best chance to try and succeed if they're going to dig in, which they did. So that's why the timing of the pull."
While the team's defensive side had some breakdowns which led to Panthers goals, the last line of defense is the goaltender. Prosvetov just wasn't playing at the level needed to beat an offensively hot team like Florida.
"We made two mistakes ended up in the back of our net. It's not like we gave up a ton of scoring chances in the first but we need a save. We're gonna need to be better in some of those routine plays," Bednar said.
The Russian native came into the matchup against the Panthers with a 3-3-1 record in the seven other games he started. He had one loss to a highly-ranked team — Winnipeg Jets — but the other losses were to midlevel teams — Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.
He relieved Georgiev for the third period in a tight game against the Calgary Flames and earned the win on Dec. 11. He started the following game on Dec. 13 against the Buffalo Sabres and earned a win. His play has been inconsistent when it's spread out. But as a backup, there has to be confidence to play your best game no matter when it comes around.
"We'll talk about that. We're in a stretch, there's no easy games coming up. There's no easy games period, but especially in the stretch we're in. That's only two of the top opponents that we're going to face. We have another four straight of the top opponents in the league," Bednar said about his goaltender situation. "So Gorgie's (Georgiev) played nine in a row, played in tonight's game makes it 10. So we'll see."
It may have just been an off night for Prosvetov as Georgiev has had a couple this season as well. But it still sets a sense of worry when the team's confidence in their goaltender diminishes from that game. Is it time for full out panic mode? Not quite yet.
The Avalanche face off against the No. 1 Atlantic Division Boston Bruins on Monday and the Pacific Division's No. 2 Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.