He’s to the Wedgewoodshed. He’s chucked Philipp Grubauer, Jose Theodore, Alexandar Georgiev and Darcy Kuemper, one by one, into the chipper.
It’s Scott Wedgewood’s net right now. It’s Scott Wedgewood’s world. If you’re Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, why the devil would you ever change a horse that’s got the NHL eating its dust?
“If a guy keeps winning,” Eddie Olczyk, the TNT hockey analyst and former NHL forward, told me before the Avs punked the Kings in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series, “(then) there’s no reason, in my opinion, to make any changes.”
Especially when the guy between the pipes is rewriting Colorado’s history books. Of the 12 guys who’ve logged at least 200 postseason minutes in front of the net for the burgundy and blue, no one over their initial four playoff appearances with the Avs has posted a lower goals allowed average (1.17 GAA) or a higher save percentage (95.2%) s than Wedgewood, a career journeyman.
Heading into Sunday’s Game 4 in Los Angeles, The Wedgie Train is 3-0 this postseason with a 1.28 GAA. Perspective: Saint Patrick Roy went 2-1 with a 2.33 GAA and a shutout in his first three Avs postseason starts. Grubauer was 2-1 with a 2.24 GAA. Alexandar Georgiev? 2-1 with a 3.03 GAA. Jose Theodore? 3-0, 2.92 GAA. Darcy Kuemper? A 3-0 record, 1.62 GAA.
“It’s fun. You always want an opportunity. That’s kind of been my whole career, right?” Wedgewood told The Post’s Corey Masisak late Thursday night after Colorado’s 4-2 victory. “Just kind of hoping for an opportunity and (to) be used and find a home. And (I) had one in Dallas, then I go here, and it’s just been smooth sailing since I got here.”
The only swell in the seas up ahead? Wedgie’s workload. After Thursday evening, the No. 41 in your program and No. 1 in your heart had made five starts since April 13. That was the most he’d logged over an 11-day stretch since last Oct. 21-31 — a rare early-season dip that saw Wedgewood drop three of five decisions while the Avs were off to a 7-1-4 start.
Last Sunday was the 33-year-old’s first career postseason start. Every step forward is another step deeper into uncharted waters. Only right now, it feels as if the only force on Earth that can stop WedgieMania is Bednar.
“This guy looks like he’s putting his name on the circuit,” Kings boss D.J. Smith said of Wedgewood after Game 3, “as a big-time goalie.”
One who’s looking bigger by the day. had a better shot-stopping rate than Wedgewood’s 94.7%. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Avs’ goalie went into Friday morning ranked fourth among NHL stoppers with 55-plus minutes of playoff action in “high-danger” goals allowed average (0.64) and fifth in percentage of “high-danger” shots saved (90.5%).
Wedgewood hasn’t seen a lot of stinkers — save for the starts, he joked to me once, that involved him wearing those cursed Quebec Nordiques throwbacks. Yet the stats also say a fresher Wedgie has been a better Wedgie, by and large: With a day’s rest during the regular season, the Avs’ 1A goalie option put up a 5-3-3 record, a 2.22 GAA and a 90.7% save clip. With two days’ rest, he was stellar — 9-0-1 with a 1.34 GAA and a 94.5% stop rate. With three or more days off between appearances, Wedgewood went 17-2-2 with a 2.24 GAA and a 91.8% save percentage.
There’s also the matter of the blonder half of Avs’ Lumber Yard, Mackenzie Blackwood, who was the organization’s presumed No. 1 net-minder before injuries and inconsistencies dogged his year.
Blackwood is younger (29) than Wedgewood and has more career playoff starts (seven to Wedgie’s three) under his belt. The longer the Avs remain in the postseason, the more likely it becomes that you’ll need your 1b goalie at some point.
With a 3-0 lead in this series, would it be smart for Bednar’s long-term plans to give Blackwood a cameo on Sunday, just to shake off the rust? Or salve his ego?
“Nah,” Olczyk replied. “Your main focus right now for the organization, without question, is putting the best lineup and the best combination and pushing the right buttons that give your team a chance to win and have success. If that means pulling a guy or not playing (a guy), and that goes for skaters, too — when your name or number get called, you’ve got to be ready.
“And it’s hard. It tests a lot of things under the umbrella. And when you get asked to step in, you go in, you play.”
In Game 3, Wedgewood saw 26 shots. He’s faced 76 attempts this postseason and turned away 72 of them. That’s the most he’s faced over a three-game stretch in at least a month.
“There are hypotheticals,” Olczyk continued. “(If you play) a couple of overtimes, you win, and (if Wedgewood faces) 78 shots, and you turn around and play the next day … in this series though, you have a few extra days off (before Game 4).”
When I floated the idea of giving Blackwood some game time to Eddie, he sunk it. Actually, he sort of laughed. Hockey dudes are a superstitious lot. Wedgewood is hot. And you never mess with a heater in April, May or June until the fire dies out.
