The Colorado Avalanche and their new starting goaltender, Scott Wedgewood, appeared unstoppable in the Stanley Cup playoffs—until they hit a roadblock.
The top seed in the Western Conference had swept through their first six postseason games before meeting the inspired Minnesota Wild, who secured a decisive 5-1 victory at home in Game 3 of their second-round series on Saturday.
Just as significant as the loss was coach Jared Bednar’s decision to pull Wedgewood from the net after Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman scored a power-play goal at 4:23 of the second period, giving the Wild a 3-0 lead.
Wedgewood, 33, had played every minute of the postseason until being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood.
A career backup over eight NHL seasons, Wedgewood appeared in a personal-best 45 games for Colorado during the regular season. In the opening round, he allowed only five goals in a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings.
The second round has proved more challenging. Wedgewood gave up six goals in the series opener against Minnesota, which Colorado won 9-6. He rebounded with a 29-save performance in a 5-2 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday.
By Game 3 on Saturday, Bednar had seen 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 on 12 shots before Blackwood stopped 12 of 13 shots in 32:27 of relief. Minnesota sealed the win with an empty-net goal from Matt Boldy.
The goalie duo—nicknamed “The Lumber Yard”—split playing time nearly evenly during Colorado’s 121-point regular season (55-16-11). Wedgewood posted a 31-6-1 record with a 2.02 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, while Blackwood went 23-10-2 with a 2.51 GAA and .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.”
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar on the bench during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena on April 5, 2026.
