Jared Bednar makes his feelings known about Colorado Avalanche goaltender’s first-period collapse (Image Source: Imagn)

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar shared his thoughts about his goaltender Justus Annunen’s first-period collapse in the crushing 8-2 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.

The game marked a tough outing for Annunen, who allowed three goals on six shots in the first period before being replaced by Alexandar Georgiev.

However, the Avs’ defensive breakdown continued, leading to three goals against Georgiev. Bednar put Annunen back in for the third period, but he allowed two more goals, finishing the game with 11 saves with .688 SV%.

Meanwhile, Georgiev made 14 saves and posted an SV% of .824. Bednar shared his thoughts on the performance of the goaltenders (0:57):

“I thought Georgiev battled hard. But, we’ve got a big week coming up, I’ve got to plan ahead a little bit too. I didn’t love the start from Juice (Justus Annunen), so we went to Georgiev.

“We went back to Juice to give Georgiev some rest. It was a scheduled start, so that Georgiev can get some rest here, coming back to some divisional games, some conference games. But he played. He competed hard in the net, and, I mean, I can’t fault him on any of those goals.”

There was a moment in the game when Alexandar Georgiev’s frustration boiled over when he threw his stick behind the net after the Tampa Bay Lightning had extended their lead to 6-1.

Bednar addressed the incident, acknowledging the emotions running high among the players:

“Hey, listen, they’re frustrated, probably upset with themselves, one another, everyone, I don’t blame them for having emotion and not liking the way the game was going. It was 5-1 at the time, 6-1 at the time. So is what it is, they’ll get past it.”

With the defeat, the Colorado Avalanche are fourth in the Central Division with 24 points after 22 games.

How Tampa Bay Lightning downed Colorado Avalanche

The Tampa Bay Lightning started strong in the first period, jumping out to a 5-1 lead.

Nick Perbix, Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, Luke Glendening and Anthony Cirelli found the back of the net for the Bolts, while Ivan Ivan scored the only goal for the Colorado Avalanche in that period.

Braden Point extended the Lightning’s lead to 6-1 with a powerplay goal at 9:38 of the second period, which was the only goal scored in that period. Ivan Ivan then scored his second goal of the night to bring the Avalanche to 6-2 at 1:08 of the third period.

However, goals from Guentzel and Michael Eyssimont capped a dominant 8-2 victory for the Lightning at home. The Colorado Avalanche host the Vegas Golden Knights next at the Ball Arena on Wednesday.