Before defeating Nashville on Saturday, Scott Wedgewood hadn’t won a game since Nov. 23. But he still enters Sunday tied for the most wins in the league with Jake Oettinger.
Wedgewood made 27 saves to improve to 14-1-4. He’s still in the running to make Team Canada’s Olympics roster, albeit the competition is getting tighter.
We learned on Saturday that Hockey Canada will reveal the roster on New Year’s Eve. That gives Wedgewood just under three weeks to continue to make a case for the team.
It sounds like he’s in the running, along with Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson, and Darcy Kuemper. You can make an argument that none of those goalies are having a better season than Mackenzie Blackwood, who served as the backup against Nashville.
We’ll have to see how things unfold in the coming weeks. It’s likely going to go right down to the wire.
READ MORE: The Aftermath: Avalanche Continue Historic Home Dominance, Defeat Predators 4-2
10 Observations
1. Something I’ve enjoyed tracking this season is how often Wedgewood holds the opposition to two or fewer goals. He’s given up less than three goals in 14 of his 21 starts. And in the times where he let in 3+, there was a stretch where it happened four games in a row.
He’s just been insanely consistent this year. Head coach Jared Bednar credited him for being the team’s best penalty killer against Nashville.
2. Part of the reason why Wedgewood went nearly three weeks between wins is because of the injury he suffered against Vancouver. In that game, the score was tied 1-1 when he was replaced by Blackwood. The Avs quickly scored two goals before Blackwood faced two high-danger shots.
Wedgewood then missed the next three games, before returning for a 4-3 shootout loss against these very same Preds.
He gave the rest of the league 20 days to catch up, and, aside from Oettinger, nobody else got to 14. (Jeremy Swayman and Thompson both have 13).
3. The Avs were 0-for-4 on the man advantage but still found a way to score twice around Nashville’s penalties. On their first PP chance, the Avs’ PP ended early because Valeri Nichushkin was called for interference. On the ensuing four-on-four, Jack Drury scored to make it 2-0. It came just 13 seconds after the Nichushkin penalty.
Later on, the Avs got Wedgewood off and an extra attacker on the ice during a delay penalty. They moved the puck well, and Victor Olofsson scored on the 6-on-5 attack before the Preds could touch the puck.
4. The Preds had 20 shots on goal with 10:45 remaining in the second period. By the time there was 10:45 remaining in the third, they had only gone up to 23. And they finished with 29.
The Avs really tightened up defensively.
5. Cale Makar was the only defenseman to play more than 20 minutes. And in second place, Brent Burns slightly edged out Devon Toews, playing 19:35.
6. Colorado is 13-0-2 in 15 games at home. That’s the most wins in franchise history through the first 15 home games. And, as I noted after the last game, both losses being in a shootout means that no visiting team has had a player score a game-winning goal at Ball Arena yet.
7. Only defensemen got assists on Colorado’s three goals before the empty netter.
Burns assisted on the Nathan MacKinnon goal. Drury’s tally was assisted by Makar and Samuel Girard. And the assists on the Olofsson goal went to Girard and Sam Malinski.
8. The final result wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I was surprised Nashville decided to throw Justus Annunen at Colorado on the road. The Avs are dismantling a lot of teams in Denver, and even some of the league’s better goalies are struggling to stop their attack.
Luckily for Annunen, only three got past him on 40 shots.
9. MacKinnon’s tally at 1:26 was the ninth time the Avs have scored inside the first 90 seconds of a game this season. That’s a franchise record, and they reached the mark in just 32 games.
Think of how many times over the years we’ve heard Bednar reference not liking his team’s start. And then put that into context when looking at just how well Colorado has been from the opening puck drop this year. It’s impressive.
10. I’m convinced that Ryan O’Reilly returning to the Avs before the trade deadline would make this team nearly impossible to beat. But I just don’t know if it’ll happen, given that he’s likely going to be this year’s Brock Nelson as the best centerman on the trade market.
We saw what the Avs had to give up to get Nelson last year. There are teams that need a 2C a whole heck of a lot more than Colorado needs a 3C. So they’d probably outbid the Avs.
But, could you imagine? O’Reilly looks like he doesn’t belong in Nashville. He’s a bright spot this year on a roster that’s struggling in so many different ways. His work ethic is still as high as it was when he played in Colorado a decade ago.
