The Colorado Avalanche goalie could be the team’s saving grace

The Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators recently swapped backup goaltenders in a fairly innocuous deal. The Avs brought in veteran puck stopper Scott Wedgewood and sent Justus Annunen to the Predators to give each goalie a fresh start.

In just a few starts for the Avalanche, Wedgewood is quickly becoming exactly the type of goaltender the team needed. His last effort was a 25-save shutout as the Avs eliminated a very good New Jersey Devils team.

The 32-year-old puck stopper fits perfectly in Colorado. He is tall and leggy and can easily hide the wrinkle. The Devils were able to experience this first hand on the power play. New Jersey was 0 for 3 with the man advantage, and Wedgewood looked best shorthanded. He also made multiple saves at the goal line, using his long legs to keep the puck away from the net.

Wedgewood is also an incredibly calm and collected goalie in net, and that’s a wonderful complement to the run-and-gun style that the Avalanche can play at times. With speedsters like Nathan MacKinnon, Arturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen acting recklessly, Colorado has a terribly bad habit of leaving its goaltender all alone.

But for the experienced goalkeeper it is an easy task to have to fend off one or two breakaway attempts. 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 advantage of an excellent angle, held his own and parried a sneaky shot attempt from one of the Devils’ top scorers.

Wedgewood was excellent in his first two starts. He has conceded four goals on 81 shots against him and has a ridiculous goals-against average of 1.44 and a save percentage of 0.957 since joining Colorado.

As starting goaltender Alexander Georgiev continues to have question marks, it is becoming increasingly clear why and how important it was to sign Scott Wedgewood. Since arriving in Colorado, he has performed as promised and more, and the team is hoping he can provide that spark every time he’s between the pipes this season.

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