Scott Wedgewood makes a statement and 3 other takeaways from an ugly Avalanche win over Utah

The Colorado Avalanche opened the Ball Arena portion of their schedule with a gritty 2-1 win over the visiting Utah Mammoth in a game that you certainly wouldn’t use to sell someone on the merits of high-speed, high-entertainment hockey.

Wins all count the same, though, and Colorado can feel good that they have won both contests to begin the year. The big story from this one is goaltender Scott Wedgewood, who was quite good in the season-opening win over the Los Angeles Kings but had to turn his game up to another level to help the Avs scrape out tonight’s win.

Ross Colton scored his first goal of the year and Nathan MacKinnon nabbed the game-winning goal just minutes into the third period to break a 1-1 tie and then he proceeded to big time the 3 Stars presentation after the game as he chose not to show up (as he frequently does).

This one was a real slog for the Avs as they had to grind out two points on a night they weren’t anywhere close to their best so there are plenty of things to tackle. Let’s begin, however, in net.

Scott Wedgewood is making the Avs’ goaltending conversation interesting

If you’re rolling your eyes and saying, “AJ, it’s two games, stop,” I completely understand your viewpoint. But from where I sit, presumed starter Mackenzie Blackwood had himself a little postseason meltdown in Games 5-7, helping the Avs to flame out spectacularly in a playoff series they had no business losing, then had surgery following the season and is still recovering.

That has opened the door for Scott Wedgewood to make a little noise and through two games against two teams who could be in the playoffs when all is said and done, Wedgewood has allowed just two goals, zero at even strength.

While he certainly couldn’t do much differently on Kevin Fiala’s rocket of a goal on Tuesday night, the goal that Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther scored tonight is absolutely one Wedgewood would love to have back because it wasn’t a special shot that beat him. It was one of those goals that gets through a goalie more than it gets by him.

If he had given up three other goals, that one would drive you crazy, but I’ll say the same thing I always said of another soft-goal prone goaltender who frequently found ways to win games (Pavel Francouz): If he only allows one, I don’t care if it’s the old Vesa Toskala goal. One goal allowed should be enough to get your team two points.

Tonight, it was, but Wedgewood had to work for it.

The numbers weren’t overwhelming: Utah only had 11 high-danger chances, six of which actually ended up on net, but four of those were clean breakaways. This was definitely a quality over quantity kind of night, as they typically are for a Colorado goalie, and Wedgewood finished with 32 saves on 33 shots and only allowed one goal versus 2.64 expected goals.

I’m not going to say that Wedgewood has usurped the position as starting goaltender, but I am saying that if Blackwood’s play isn’t also stellar when he returns to the lineup, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar will not have a hard decision to make to give Wedgewood an extra start or two.

That new-look third line was pretty fun

You know, the fun thing about quality depth from a forward corps is that on any given night, you aren’t sure which line is going to have it. In Game 1, the Brock Nelson-centered second line was rolling despite not scoring and, obviously, Nathan MacKinnon’s line notched two goals and took over stretches of that game. They also had a goal from defenseman Sam Malinski that was created by the hard work of Parker Kelly‘s fourth line.

Tonight, Nelson’s line was Colorado’s worst, while Ross Colton, Jack Drury, and Victor Olofsson formed the most territorially dominant line for the Avs.

In 7:16 of 5v5 time together, that line had the following advantages:

• Shot attempts: 12-4
• Shots on goal: 6-1
• Scoring chances: 7-1
• High-danger chances: 3-1
• Goals: 1-0

That last one is obviously the most important one, especially because oh my god what a goal it was, but to see that kind of high-level process from a third line that is Colorado’s most unproven coming into the year? That’s the good stuff.

I wanted to take a closer look under the hood, and what I found was really encouraging. That line’s two most frequent matchups were the top two lines of Utah, so it wasn’t like they put those numbers up against the much weaker bottom-six forwards of the Mammoth, one of the biggest weaknesses on their roster.

Add in that Drury was 15/21 on faceoffs (71% success rate), but 9/12 (75%) on defensive zone draws and you have a line that created offense, won faceoffs, and moved pucks from the defensive zone to the offensive zone all game. It was the most consistent line the Avs had and that’s how you find a way to win when your big guns aren’t at their best.

Nathan MacKinnon makes another play

I’ll be real about this: Watching MacKinnon play is often an emotional roller coaster for me. He cuts so many corners, does so many lazy and selfish things that he drives me insane. What balances that out is that he almost always does something brilliant along the way, too, and we saw exactly that play out tonight.

MacKinnon’s line wasn’t great, especially defensively (something that I think is likely to continue…forever, perhaps?), but somehow whatever line he is on ends up driving a decent amount of Colorado’s offensive numbers at the end of the night.

The big, game-changing moment produced by these guys actually came on the team’s third power play of the night was a direct result of some inexplicable decision-making by the Mammoth, but it resulted in MacKinnon getting loose and getting a clear shooting lane from his favorite spot on the ice and he made no mistake in beating goaltender Karel Vejmelka over the shoulder.

Martin Necas and Cale Makar got the assists, but this was another example of how connected they can play when they start clicking. Things were going just okay for them all night, but early in the third period with a man advantage, they found just a sliver of space and cashed in.

Not for nothing, it also just felt right that Gabe Landeskog was standing net-front on that MacKinnon goal. I don’t think it did much, but it harkened back to a time gone by with the three-headed monster and that was a warm feeling in the cockles of my heart.

Have the Avs found a second pairing that actually works?

Longtime readers of this space know that while I like Sam Girard, I have become increasingly open to the idea of the Avs moving on from him simply because they can’t seem to find a partner for him that actually allows them to function as a solid pairing.

Josh Manson has had some moments, but in the three full seasons the two have gotten to play together, injuries have beset both players and while their overall underlying numbers show positive results, each player’s tendency to make the big mistake has erased a lot of good process along the way.

That has left the Avs searching a bit and their latest attempt, 40-year-old Brent Burns, is an interesting contrast. Tonight, they played 12:19 of 5v5 time as a pairing and these were their results:

• Shot attempts: 19-13
• Shots on goal: 10-5
• Scoring chances: 10-6
• High-danger chances: 3-0

That last number is significant because Girard’s size limitations have meant that he’s prone to doing a whole lot of good but then being on the wrong end of a high-danger chance that becomes a goal against. Alongside Burns, they didn’t allow one and if they can keep doing that more often than not, the Avs are in the money on a pairing that will be productive on both ends of the ice that doesn’t include Devon Toews or Cale Makar.

While Girard didn’t get a point on it, it was a brilliant outlet pass from him that started the Colton goal. Great hockey all around.