Scott Wedgewood was walking around the Colorado Avalanche facility Friday in flip-flops, a pretty encouraging sign for a goaltender who left Ball Arena the night before in a walking boot.
Avs coach Jared Bednar said there’s still no timeline for Wedgewood’s return, but the club is expecting him to be out for at least the next handful of games.
“They’re hoping itap not a high-ankle sprain, which would be an automatic six weeks or someplace in that range,” Bednar said. “If itap a little lower, or if itap his foot, we’ll see what the image shows today, but it could be 2-3 weeks. We don’t know, but itap not going to be a game or two. He’s going to miss some time.”
Wedgewood left the Avs’ wild 6-5 comeback win Thursday night after falling awkwardly onto Buffalo’s Zach Benson in his crease. Benson got up and scored a controversial goal while Wedgewood was writhing in pain on the ice and clutching at his right lower leg.
He was unable to put any weight on it while leaving the ice but looked to be in much better condition while watching practice Friday. Still, the Avs recalled Trent Miner after practice, and he will likely get his first NHL start next week when Colorado has back-to-back road games at Chicago and Minnesota.
“Trent Miner will play in the back-to-back and we’ll go from there,” Bednar said. “(Mackenzie) Blackwood, there’s no reason for me that he can’t carry the load and play a lot. We’ll just see how long (Wedgewood) is going to be out, but we’re going to have to lean on Blackwood a little bit here.”
Miner made his NHL debut Nov. 15 against Washington. He stopped 12 of 13 shots in relief of Justus Annunen.
Blackwood and Wedgewood have been outstanding since arriving in a pair of trades 10 days apart. Wedgewood is 4-2 with a .917 save percentage in seven appearances, while Blackwood is 6-1 with a .932 save percentage in seven games.
