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.
BOSTON — Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a ruptured tendon in his left knee and is out for the remainder of the season, the team said.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
The team announced Sunday that he had surgery for a left patellar tendon repair at Massachusetts General Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson.
“I talked to him last night,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said in a news conference on Saturday discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages [Saturday]. We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the offseason to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don’t,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
Casas, a left-handed batter, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with infielder/outfielder Abraham Toro selected from Triple-A Worcester.
Cora said Toro — a switch-hitter — will split time at first along with Romy Gonzalez. who bats right-handed.
Breslow said the team might be exploring a long-term replacement.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” he said. “We’ll look both internally and outside as well.”
Cora said there are no plans to move Rafael Devers, who was replaced at third by offseason free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman and moved to DH.
“We asked him to do something in spring training that in the beginning he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing,” Cora said. “Like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”
TORONTO — Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two days after the third baseman left in the third inning because of a mild right ankle sprain.
The six-time All-Star was injured when he stumbled and fell while crossing first base on an infield single. Ramirez went down after being struck in the back by a throw from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Ramirez was batting third Sunday against right-hander Bowden Francis.
Ramírez sat out Saturday when Cleveland beat Toronto 5-3. He went 2 for 2 before departing Friday, boosting his average to .274. He has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games.
In last Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Ramirez became the first primary third baseman to reach 250 homers and 250 stolen bases.
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