Avalanche Goalie Could Be Team's Saving Grace
The Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators swapped back-up goalies recently in a fairly innocuous deal. The Avs brought in veteran puck-stopped Scott Wedgewood and sent Justus Annunen to the Predators to give each goalie a fresh start.
In only a handful of starts for the Avalanche, Wedgewood is quickly becoming exactly the type of goalie the team needed. His latest effort was a 25-save shutout as the Avs shutout a very good New Jersey Devils team.
The 32-year-old puck-stopper is a perfect fit in Colorado. He's tall and long-legged, and he's able to cover the crease with ease. The Devils witnessed this first-hand on the power play. New Jersey was 0-for-3 with the man advantage, and Wedgewood looked his best when shorthanded. He made several saves along the goal line in tight as well, utilizing his long legs to keep the puck out of the net.
Wedgewood is also an incredibly calm and collected goalie in net, and it's a wonderful compliment to the run-and-gun style the Avalanche can play at times. With speedsters like Nathan MacKinnon, Arturi Lehkonen, and Mikko Rantanen running roughshod, Colorado has an awfully bad habit of leaving their goaltender all alone.
But for the veteran goalie, having to save the odd breakaway attempt is an easy ask. He made an excellent stop on Devils winger Jesper Bratt to open the third period. After the scoring winger broke free with a stretch pass, Wedgewood took an excellent angle, stood his ground, and turned away a sneaky shot attempt from one of the Devils' leading scorers.
Through his first two starts, Wedgewood has been excellent. He's given up four goals on 81 shots against him and he has a ridiculous 1.44 goals against average and .957 save percentage since joining Colorado.
With starting goalie Alexander Georgiev continuing to carry question marks, it's becoming increasingly clear why and how important it was to acquire Scott Wedgewood. He's been as advertised and then some since arriving in Colorado, and the team is hoping he can continue to add that spark each time he is between the pipes this season.