How should the Avalanche handle their crease down the stretch?
The Colorado Avalanche are likely to become the first team in the NHL to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but there are still questions around their team, even as they lead the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton, a former NHL goaltender himself, broke down the situation in the crease as the Avalanche balance both Scott Wedgewood and MacKenzie Blackwood down the stretch.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Avalanche haven’t really faced any adversity, but looking at the numbers post Olympic break, Mackenzie Blackwood is sputtering on the year. It’s not been great since the Olympic break. Meanwhile, Scott Wedgewood’s numbers are looking damn near Vezina worthy since the Olympic break. How is Colorado going to do this down the stretch? I’m sure there’s a part of them that says if they keep giving Mackenzie Blackwood starts, let’s hope he finds his game here. Do you think, though, if they were to give the start to Wedgewood in Game 1 of the playoffs, is he a guy you’d trust going up against a Jake Oettinger, potentially in a big series against the Dallas Stars?
Carter Hutton: I think it’s good to have both guys. I think you need to understand that when you’re talking about an Oettinger, Casey DeSmith matchup with his pedigree, you know it’s going to be Oettinger, since they live and die by that, where I think Colorado has a little bit more freedom to know if Wedgewood could maybe be the guy, since he’s been awesome.
I just look back to last year in that series against Dallas, Mackenzie Blackwood wasn’t horrible, but you know, Game 5, they lost 6-2, and he gave up five. Then Game 4, he gave up four; they ended up winning, which wasn’t great. His team scored seven for him. And then the final game, in the last period, we all know what happened. Mikko Rantanen takes that game over, and when you need a big save, those are the moments in potential playoff clinching games your goalie has to make big saves, and it wasn’t there last year. So it can be concerning for a team that has some heavy playoff matchups early.
You can catch the full goaltending conversation as well as the rest of Friday’s episode here…