Georgiev ‘proves people wrong,’ leads Avs’ G2 win
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
After the Avalanche evened their first-round series with the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev praised his teammates for the support they’ve shown him, with coach Jared Bednar also defending his goaltender.
Georgiev, who gave up seven goals on 16 shots in the Avs’ Game 1 loss on Sunday, responded by stopping 28 of the 30 shots he faced in his team’s 5-2 win at Canada Life Centre.
“They’ve shown so much support to me over the last couple days,” Georgiev said. “Very rough first game, obviously. I just felt so much trust in the room from everybody. I appreciate it so much. It helped me reset and I know that they got my back. I know I’ll help them out as well during these playoffs. It was huge from them. I appreciate it.”
Entering Game 1, the Avalanche were already facing questions about how they would fare against the Jets. They were 0-3 in the regular season against Winnipeg, with their most recent meeting on April 13 a 7-0 loss in which Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots. Watching Georgiev surrender seven goals on Sunday only led to more questions for Bednar and the Avalanche about their plans in net going forward.
Bednar elected to stick with Georgiev, and the decision paid off, with the coach describing his 38-win goaltender’s effort as “fantastic.”
“You can imagine coming in here not having a good night as a team, not having a good night on the defensive side, and if you give up seven as a goalie what type of things you’re reading online,” Bednar said. “What you’re hearing from everyone. Everyone goes immediately to doubt and criticism. To be able to put that aside and focus on his process … and go out and prove people wrong in Game 2?
“That’s a tough job to do because you are the last line for defense.”
Jets forward David Gustafsson gave his team a 1-0 lead in the first period before the Avs scored four of the game’s five second-period goals for a 4-2 advantage.
Some of Georgiev’s most important saves came in a third period that saw the Jets finish with a shot share of 73.1% possession. There was one save in which Jets forward Nino Niederreiter was trying to corral a bouncing puck while fending off defenseman Sean Walker before Georgiev was able to stop the puck.
His strongest save of the third came when the Jets were on a power play and a cross-ice pass found its way to an open Nikolaj Ehlers, who fired a point blank shot from the right faceoff circle that Georgiev stopped with 12:44 left in the period.
Valeri Nichushkin scored on an empty net late in the third for a 5-2 lead.
“I tried to imagine that feeling of winning the first game of the series for us and trust the game, enjoy the atmosphere and try to approach it as a new game, definitely after the last one,” Georgiev said.
Bednar said in his postgame comments that Georgiev “deserves all the credit” for reasons that he would go on to outline.
It began with Bednar saying that 50% of the questions he faced from reporters between Games 1 and 2 were about Georgiev. He said even with that attention, Georgiev ignored the discourse and didn’t let it serve as a distraction.
Bednar said while the Avs were better in Game 1, he felt they were not “that much better” in Game 2.
“But he was much better, and he gave us a chance to win, and we did win,” Bednar said. “Now, we gotta go repeat it. We still feel like whether it’s Georgie or our team, whatever, we’re going to push to try to be as close to perfect as possible without being uptight about it. … Our team is in full support of what he’s capable of doing and what we think he can do.”
The series, now tied at 1-1, heads to Denver where Game 3 will be played Friday at 8 p.m. local time.
Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It’s the first pole for Spire, which has shown stark improvement with an infusion of cash brought by new majority owner Dan Towriss, who also controls Andretti Global in IndyCar and the Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026.
McDowell’s previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.
Christopher Bell qualified in 13th position but will start from the back of the field as he searches for a fourth consecutive win. NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.
He could become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races — an accomplishment that only eight drivers have achieved in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.
Lackluster qualifying hasn’t been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.
Joey Logano will start Sunday’s race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.
Bell has received a congratulatory text message from Johnson after each win in this three-race streak, and he is hoping the seven-time NASCAR champion hits that send button again Sunday.
“It is still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone,” Bell said. “He has talked to me, he has sent me a text message after every win so far. I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up. I respect the heck out of him. It’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race to send a text message. That is so cool.”
Bell’s three straight wins is the Cup Series’ longest winning streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.
The three wins this year tie his season-high set in 2022 and matched in 2024, and setting a new mark isn’t out of the question at Las Vegas, where he has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. Bell, in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the runner-up in Vegas’ last two fall races.
He is not considering a fourth consecutive victory a lock, even as he has dominated the first month of the season.
“One thing is for sure: Nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week,” Bell said. “Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform. This has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me.”
Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell’s hot streak is Larson, who has won at the “Diamond in the Desert” three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021, and he has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.
“I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it’s probably been our best racetrack,” Larson said. “Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great, but getting to come to the city and have fun on the Strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to.”
Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October propelled him to his third NASCAR title.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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