I’m not putting it on our top six, it’s on our whole team.
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“I thought their their top six was humming.
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“He was okay,” Bednar said, describing MacKinnon’s first game in more than three weeks. He finished with two assists and five shots in 21:40. The Avs were 7-1 without their most skilled forward despite MacKinnon having just one goal in nine (now 10) games.īy the time MacKinnon was able to find his rhythm and set up Samuel Girard for a goal, Colorado was already trailing 3-0. Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon returned after missing eight games. Not many storylines could overshadow the return of one of the league’s elite forwards. “We’ll keep an eye on him for a couple of days and see how it plays out.” “He’ll stay on the trip for now,” Bednar said of Kuemper. It may be the only way to win games until either Kuemper or Francouz are ready to return. But without Kuemper, and with so many games crammed in before Christmas, the Avalanche may need their league-best offense to continue to score at will. The two have combined for just 10 wins - one less than the Avs. I’m not that far yet.”Ĭolorado’s next two opponents, the Habs and the Ottawa Senators, are not having nearly as good a season as Toronto. I’ll talk to Joe tonight and see what he thinks,” Bednar said of the potential for Annunen starting.” I’ll talk with our coaching staff. It travels to Montreal for the second of a back to back on Thursday where it’s possible Annunen could suddenly be called on to make his NHL debut. But the Avs being unable to rely on their goalie to bail them out is also an issue.Ĭolorado won’t have much time to sulk on this one. Whether Kuemper starting would’ve altered the outcome of the game is unknown. We didn’t test him enough in the first or in the third but he had a pretty good night.” “He wasn’t good,” Bednar said bluntly of Johansson’s performance. Johansson otherwise had a lot of pucks hit him on the way in, which is often deemed an unsuccessful play by a goalie. The 24-year-old had ample time all alone in the crease to hang Johansson out to dry. Most notably the first of three goals from one of the best shooters in the NHL, Austons Matthews. The Avs didn’t help him much defensively, especially in the earlygoing. That third goal has often been the decider as Campbell has surrendered more than two goals just four times in 18 games - with tonight’s third goal coming when his team already had a six-goal stranglehold. Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the first period was three-quarters of the way through. “But we know that we can be and tonight is just a good reality check.” “You’re only as good as as you play and tonight we didn’t play very good so we’re not a very good hockey team tonight,” Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog said. But without Kuemper, the Leafs were able to flex their offensive muscles all the while knowing their goalie Jack Campbell would hold down the fort at the other end. The Maple Leafs and Avalanche were two of the hotter teams in the NHL entering this battle of hopeful Stanley-Cup contenders. The emergency goalie from a local university is only the cherry on top. Kuemper, while inconsistent, has been pulled three times over the past few games because of a skate blade issue that seemingly hindered his ability to get into a rhythm.
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Goaltender Pavel Francouz, who was ready to return after missing the entire 2020-21 season, was injured in a preseason game and has been on the shelf since. Annunen landed in Toronto less than a half hour before the opening puck drop.Ĭolorado has already had its fair share of goaltending drama through the first seven weeks of the season. He was later replaced by Justus Annunen, who was en route to Toronto to join the team. And his backup goalie would be local emergency goalie Jett Alexander, a 22-year-old playing for the University of Toronto. Moments before warm-ups, the Avs publicly announced that Kuemper was out and Johansson would instead start for the second consecutive game. “I found out after I did (media availability). But something changed between the early afternoon hours and the 7:30 PM local puck drop. Kuemper took part in morning skate and was announced by Bednar as the starter afterward.