Bednar to Refs: ‘I Don’t Give a Sh*t, He’s Hurt’

DENVER — Jared Bednar watched his team make an incredible comeback against the Buffalo Sabres but still couldn’t shake off the anger he had with a call that led to one of the Sabres’ goals.

With Colorado trailing 3-2, Buffalo’s Zach Benson was bumped into Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood by an Avalanche player. Wedgewood instantly went down in pain, falling on his back into his own net.

The puck was behind the net and squirted to the corner. The play went on with Wedgewood still down and Benson picked it up and easily scored on a wrap-around.

“The referee said it wasn’t blown because we put their guy into Scott,” Bednar said. “I said I don’t give a shit. He’s hurt. They’re standing there. He’s sitting there. He’s hurt. Blow the whistle.”

Chaos ensued following the hit, with Samuel Girard first going after Benson before everyone joined in. Wedgewood was helped to his feet by a team trainer and left the game. In came Mackenzie Blackwood, but the delay continued.

“If the puck’s in the net-front still and they were hacking away at it and it goes in, I’d say fine,” Bednar said. “But as soon as the puck squirts to the corner, they gotta blow it dead. They do it all the time for regular players, because of player safety.

“The rule would state that we have to touch it. But they don’t follow that rule. They never follow that rule.”

He even referenced a previous play from two games prior where the whistle was blown because the injured player was in the view of a possible shot from the point for Colorado.

“If he’s hurt and he’s not getting up and they’re standing there looking at it, the whistle should go. It’s just that simple. For them to just let it go and then allow the goal is insanity to me,” Bednar said. “It’s a player safety thing. If they would have loaded up [Rasmus] Dahlin for a one-timer, for a 105-mile-an-hour slap shot, they are just going to let it fucking happen with our goalie down in the net? Can’t do it. Gotta blow it dead.”

Bednar was heated in the moment and demanded an explanation from the officials. At the same time, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and several other of Colorado’s leaders had separate conversations with the refs.

Just as they were about to drop the puck, Bednar challenged the call for goalie interference, knowing very well it wasn’t going to be overturned.

It was a symbolic sign of protest and a penalty he was okay with taking.

“Did I think it was goalie interference? No, it’s not goalie interference, because we bumped him in. He turned the wrong way, and we bumped into him and he went into our goalie,” he said. “But when the goalie’s hurt you blow the whistle. That’s what happens all the time with players in every zone.

“It gives them another chance to do the right thing. The goal shouldn’t have counted. I was mad, still, so we [challenged] it.”

Bednar will likely get fined for his criticism of the officiating. But it wasn’t going to stop him from speaking his mind.

“We’ll call the league,” Bednar said. “After this presser, I’m sure I’ll get a call from the league. I don’t care. That wasn’t a difficult call. Again, I’m not picking on the guys who were out there tonight. Any one of the four guys could be looking at it and just blow the whistle.”

How it Ended

The Avalanche killed off the delay of game penalty and after exchanging goals, found themselves down 5-3 with less than three minutes left. Then Cale Makar scored his second of the game, followed by an epic game-tying goal from Jonathan Drouin with eight seconds remaining.

Devon Toews capped it off with the game-winner in overtime after stealing the puck from Tage Thompson.

Added Toews: “We’re a family here. We’re a community. We pick each other up when one guy goes down. Tonight, [Wedgewood] went down and we were able to pick him up.”