Avalanche officially have third goaltender after Georgiev struggles again

On By Littum

The Colorado Avalanche officially have a third goaltender on the way to try and help the team after Alexandar Georgiev fell to 1-4 on the season on Monday night.

The Avs announced that Kaapo Kahkonen has completed his conditioning assignment with the Colorado Eagles and is scheduled to join the pro roster.

Georgiev gave up three goals against the Blackhawks on Monday, but all came in the first period and the Avs found themselves down 3-1. There should have been a “here we go again” attitude from the players and they could never dig out of the hole. Chicago scored two empty-net goals and won the game 5-2.

On the season to go along with his poor record, Georgiev is allowing 4.62 goals per game and has just an .822 save percentage. Colorado rode Justus Annunen to four straight wins, but he got the night off against the Blackhawks because it was a back-to-back.

What does it mean to move on? Well, Annunen is clearly goalkeeper no. 1. That decision will likely be confirmed if and when he takes the ice tomorrow night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But Kahkonen gives Georgiev some competition in the short term, which will hopefully wake him up.

The problem is that Kahkonen didn’t have great numbers last year. He posted a combined 7-24-3 record with the Sharks and Devils, and .898 save percentage and 3.64 goals against per game. The Avs claimed him off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets earlier this month.

In his two starts with the Eagles, Kahkonen stopped 57 of 62 shots.

We’ll see how it all shakes out, but the Avalanche clearly have some goaltending drama. It appears to be mostly at the backup position, but it’s not a conversation anyone expected Georgiev to be in just a few weeks ago.