One of the biggest question marks for the Colorado Avalanche when the 2023-24 season began: Could the club find someone to help out Alexandar Georgiev in net?
It took a while for him to get his chance, but Ivan Prosvetov’s first impression was certainly a strong one. Prosvetov stopped 27 shots in a 4-1 win Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues to help the Avs end a two-game losing streak.
Georgiev started the first eight games of the season, but coach Jared Bednar said it might be time to give him a breather Tuesday, and then tabbed Prosvetov as the starter the following day. This wasn’t a particularly sharp performance from the rest of the Avs, particularly for stretches in the first two periods, but Prosvetov looked locked in for a guy who had a little more than eight minutes of action this season.
“I knew my job coming in here,” Prosvetov said. “They told me I have to be patient, and I was. I was in the backup spot last year, so I know how to take it. You just go in practices and work as hard as you can. You’re doing lots of cardio to keep the game-wise shape. So yeah, I know how to take my role.”
Ross Colton gave Colorado the lead with his second goal of the season — and first that wasn’t an own goal by the other team — midway through the first period. Mikko Rantanen doubled the lead with a power-play goal.
Robert Thomas got St. Louis on the board late in the second period, but Artturi Lehkonen, who had been injured seconds before the Blues’ goal, came back to start the third and scored 1:41 into it to regain the two-goal advantage.
That goal was set up by Cale Makar. The next one was scored by Bo Byram, on a nice feed from Nathan MacKinnon. Both Makar and Byram were questionable for this game after missing practice Tuesday with injuries.
Colorado doesn’t need great work from its backup goaltender, but enough competence to give Bednar and his staff confidence to play Prosvetov enough to keep Georgiev fresh all season would be a success. This performance exceeded those expectations.
“Solid,” Bednar said. “Made all the saves he was supposed to make and then some.”
The No. 2 goalie spot is a question mark because Pavel Francouz is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. There’s been no timeline offered for his return, and he was placed on long-term injured reserve before the season.
The Avs claimed Prosvetov on waivers Oct. 9 from Arizona, just three days before opening night. He had 13 games of NHL experience spread out across the past three seasons. The results weren’t great, with a sub-.900 save percentage and a goals-against average north of 4.00, but the Coyotes have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league over the past several seasons.
Justus Annunen spent most of training camp as the No. 2 goalie on the depth chart, but he had even fewer NHL games on his resume. The Avs wanted more depth at the position, and Prosvetov has spent the past couple of weeks with the club while Annuen is playing regularly for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL.
Prosvetov has shown flashes of great play in his brief NHL career. He won his first three starts with the Coyotes last season, stopping 100 of 105 shots, before a couple of rough outings. He also stopped 44 of 47 shots at Ball Arena in a shootout loss to the Avalanche two seasons ago.
If someone, whether it is Prosvetov, Annunen, Francouz or a mystery goalie, can provide steady play, it would prevent the Avs from leaning on Georgiev too much. Prosvetov made his opening argument for the position a pretty convincing one.
“I liked our checking game, the way we played, the energy and intensity to our game, but there was … call it a 10-minute stretch in the second period where it was a track meet,” Bednar said. “We were giving up some chances and I thought (Prosvetov) was excellent.”
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