Bednar defends Georgiev after 2nd straight pull: 'He's our guy'

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar came to goaltender Alexandar Georgiev's defense when asked about pulling him from a second consecutive game Saturday night.

Bednar acknowledged "it's frustrating" following a 6-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in which Georgiev allowed three goals on nine shots and the Avalanche fell to 0-2-0. However, he expressed confidence in the netminder's chances of turning things around as the season goes on.

"I get that there's a level of frustration, but (Georgiev), he's our guy, he's our starter, right? And I have full faith that he has the ability, the talent, (and) the work ethic to bounce back and win us hockey games. It's a mental game (for him) right now, right? So we'll regroup and then we have other areas ... that we have to get better at," Bednar said.

Georgiev gave up five goals on 16 shots in Colorado's season opener, an 8-4 defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Justus Annunen stopped two of four shots in relief during that loss and turned aside all but two of 13 shots after coming in for Georgiev on Saturday.

Bednar added "It's way too early" for the Avalanche to start feeling sorry for themselves or to point fingers at anyone for their struggles in their first two games.

Nathan MacKinnon's frustrations boiled over late in Saturday's defeat. The Avalanche superstar smashed his stick on the bench while yelling at the officials after the Blue Jackets buried an empty-netter following a penalty call against Colorado forward Casey Mittelstadt with 39 seconds left in the contest.

The Avalanche will host the New York Islanders on Monday night in the second contest of a four-game homestand.