The Colorado Avalanche and new starting goalie Scott Wedgewood were cruising through the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Until they weren’t.
The Western Conference’s top-seeded team had won all six games in the playoffs until running in to the inspired Minnesota Wild, who fashioned a 5-1 victory at home on Saturday in Game 3 of their second-round series.
Nearly as significant as the loss was coach Jared Bednar’s decision to lift Wedgewood from the game after Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman tallied a power-play goal 4:23 into the second period for a 3-0 Wild lead.
Wedgewood, 33, had played every minute in the postseason until skating to the bench in favor of Mackenzie Blackwood.
Mostly a backup during eight seasons in the NHL, Wedgewood played a career-high 45 games for Colorado in the regular season. In the opening round of the playoffs, he allowed just five goals in the four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings.
The second round has been a different story. Wedgewood permitted six goals in the series opener vs. Minnesota that became an eventual 9-6 Colorado win. He rebounded with a 29-save effort in a 5-2 victory for Colorado in Game 2 on Tuesday.
By Game 3 on Saturday, Bednar saw enough.
“I thought that Wedgie was playing hard, and I think maybe he looked a little too aggressive on a couple of those,” Bednar said. “Like the penalty kill, it ends up without a stint of getting aggressive coming across, and then they find the back of the net. The next one, gets a piece of Taser. I think it’s a pass, and it ends up an empty net. He’s out too far, and I just felt like from what I’ve seen out of Blackwood here recently, a rested guy and a guy that we trust, I felt like it was a good opportunity to get him in and see if it sparked our group.”
Wedgewood made nine saves while allowing three goals before Blackwood stopped a dozen shots and allowed one goal in 32:27. The Wild finished the game with a Matt Boldy empty-net goal.
The goalie duo — nicknamed “The Lumber Yard” — split time nearly down the middle during Colorado’s 121-point (55-16-11) season. Wedgewood went 31-6-1 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, while Blackwood posted a 23-10-2 mark, 2.51 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.
“We’ll have a decision to make, but there’s a decision to make every night,” Bednar said. “You know, some are easier than others. I thought Blackwood was good. … So, yeah, we’ll talk about it and make a decision.”
