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Despite entering the 2024-25 NHL season with Stanley Cup aspirations, the Colorado Avalanche have looked like anything but contenders in the early going. After an 0-4 start to the campaign, the squad finally got in the win column after a tight 4-3 overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
Despite a 45-save gem from Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal, the Avalanche were finally able to secure a W on the back of a Nathan MacKinnon OT goal — and head coach Jared Bednar admitted he's relieved after snapping the losing streak.
“You don't want to drop too many because we know how hard it's gonna be to climb out of that hole. It is a relief,” the bench boss told reporters. “More importantly, I think, than relief, it's looking past that. It's the guys getting rewarded, finally, for playing the right way.”
Bednar continued: “To be 0-4 really stings, and 0-5 would be that much worse, especially when you're playing that hard and playing the right way as a group and staying positive. It's tough to stay positive if you don't ever get results. That'll go a long way.”
Although the Avalanche trailed 2-0 at the end of the first period, there was no panic in the team's game heading into the final 40.
“Probably the most positive we've been all year, to be completely honest with you,” said superstar defenseman Cale Makar, per Guerilla Sports. “I felt like we came out of that first period knowing that they were dying down and we could kind of jump on them. At the end of the day, a lot of persistence in this group tonight, and that's all you can ask for. Everybody was super committed, shift in, shift out. In between periods, everybody was talkative. We knew that this was a game to get that ‘W.'”
The Avs ended up doing just that, scoring the contest's next three goals to open up a 3-2 lead. And despite a Ducks tying tally with just 13 seconds left in regulation, MacKinnon called it in the extra frame to secure the two points.
“We got a lot of ground to make up,” the reigning Hart Trophy winner said. “It's one win. It's not like we're going crazy here. We're a Cup favorite. But it's still a fun win to get.”
An encouraging sign was the play of Alexandar Georgiev. The embattled goaltender wasn't great, but he was good enough, stopping 17 of 20 shots in the win.
Avalanche finally got a decent Alexandar Georgiev start
Although Georgiev wasn't nearly as good as Dostal on Friday night, he made a couple of timely saves to help his team secure the victory. Last year's wins leader has his first, and he'll likely be right back between the pipes when the Avalanche take on the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old Dostal was still the story of the night, saving 1.57 goals above expected and ending up with 41 saves on 45 shots.
“Just amazing,” said Anaheim head coach Greg Cronin, according to The Hockey News' Derek Lee. “We were just so fortunate to be in the game. They had doubled, tripled the shots at one point. They played with a playoff urgency. They had us on our heels the whole night, and he kept us in the game.”
The Avalanche and Ducks will meet next at the Honda Center on December 20.
