ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Colorado Avalanche looked tired after one period Friday night, but one of their new goaltenders kept them afloat until the rest of the club found enough energy to grind out a win.
That script has been a familiar one during the toughest stretch of schedule the Avs have faced, and these points might prove to be incredibly valuable. Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves, the Avalanche rebounded to fend off the Anaheim Ducks, 4-2, at Honda Center.
“After the first 20 (minutes), we weren’t happy with anything,” Wedgewood said. “A couple guys voiced their opinions on what could be done better and we turned the tide. You can’t accept the first period at this level.
“You put this jersey on and you expect to win every night, right? You have this squad, this team and ever since I got here, I put the jersey on and I expect two points. We expect two points. It’s the standard you have to hold ourselves to.”
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, while Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin had two points each. Wedgewood, along with Mackenzie Blackwood, has repeatedly provided a level of consistent goaltending the club had been lacking.
The overall play for the Avs is not near its peak, and a season full of injuries combined with a stretch of 13 road games in the past 17 contests has likely played a part in that. But they have now won six of eight, and are a season-high five games better than .500 (20-15-0).
“You chip it in different ways,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We get a power-play goal, a 5-on-5 goal, a shorthanded goal, then the guys did a nice job with the empty net. I thought the penalty kill was great.
“But probably the difference in this game because of what we gave up — which was too much — was Wedgewood. I thought he was outstanding.”
This game may have turned on a bad-luck play … for the Avs. Anaheim defenseman Olen Zellweger clipped MacKinnon in the face with his stick and was sent to the penalty box for high sticking. The officials conferred and decided to wipe away the infraction. It looked from multiple replay angles that MacKinnon was hit by the puck after Keaton Middleton tried to clear it out of danger, but a zoomed-out angle showed that Zellweger clearly got the reigning MVP ahead of the puck.
So, with the Avs down a goal and trying to kill off a penalty, the hockey gods evened out the fortune. Zellweger stumbled near the top of the Anaheim offensive zone, which allowed Logan O’Connor to spring Parker Kelly for a breakaway and a shorthanded goal at 6:40 of the second. It was Kelly’s third goal of the season and Colorado’s second of the year while shorthanded.
Nichushkin put the Avalanche in front midway through the second. Anaheim goalie John Gibson didn’t handle a Makar shot cleanly, and Nichushkin was waiting at the doorstep for one of the easiest goals he’s going to score. It was his 10th of the season in just 18 games played.
Colorado’s power play came to California mired in a 5-for-48 slump, but the Avs scored twice with the extra man Thursday night in San Jose and struck again for an insurance goal early in the third against Anaheim. MacKinnon started the play with a rare dump-in from the neutral zone. Rantanen kept the Ducks’ clearing attempt in the offensive zone, and then MacKinnon found Makar with a cross-ice pass for the defenseman’s 10th goal of the year at 3:30 of the third.
MacKinnon added an empty-net goal, and pushed his NHL-leading point total to 55 in 35 games.
The Avalanche survived the first period, but only because Wedgewood was stellar. Colorado looked like a team playing on the road for the 13th time in 17 games, and like a club playing for the second straight night against a rested team. Anaheim had nearly 80% of the expected goals and seven of the eight high-danger chances in the opening 20 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick.
Beyond Kelly’s goal, the Avs’ penalty kill has also surged since completing the double goaltending switch. Colorado killed off five Anaheim power plays in this one, including one in the final four minutes. The Avs are now 20 for 21 on the kill since swapping Alexandar Georgiev for Blackwood.
“When we made the goalie switches, you see where our penalty kill is going,” Bednar said. “The analytics have been good all year. I’m not putting it on our past goaltending, because that’s not fair, either, but goalies have their strengths and weaknesses and it seems like we’ve got a couple guys here now that are really in tune with our penalty kill.
“We’re getting the saves we need. We’re getting the whistles we need. They’ve just been really sharp.”
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