Good & Bad
Good & Bad: Wedgewood Shines to Cap off Perfect Avalanche Homestand
DENVER — Saying two weeks ago that the Avalanche’s season-long six-game homestand was going to be a defining moment was somehow still the biggest understatement of the year.
Following Monday’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Ball Arena, the Avs closed it out with a perfect 6-0-0 record. They outscored opponents 31-10 in the process and came out of it with a fully healthy lineup and five new additions for the stretch run.
Season-defining, indeed
“We played pretty good hockey, like there was that one game in there, Pittsburgh, that I didn’t love, but I like the way we responded,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m liking what I’m seeing from our group. We have a little bit of everything.”
Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, the first of which was his 1,000th career NHL point. His linemates, Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas, had the goals, both of which came early in the third period.
For Lehkonen, it’s his 27th goal in 53 games. And Necas, it’s his sixth goal and 17th point in 16 games with Colorado.
MacKinnon had a whopping six goals and nine assists during the six games at home. He leads the NHL with 102 points.
“You want team success. You want everyone to celebrate accomplishments and wins and everything like that,” MacKinnon said. “This thing is just for me, but it’s a long road, ups and downs, and definitely a cool moment though.”
Through a scoreless 40 minutes, the highlights were a disallowed goal and goaltender Scott Wedgewood stealing the show. More on both of those below.
But in the third period, the Avs came out with a purpose. On the opening shift, the top line cycled the puck, got it on net, and Lehkonen tipped it past goalie Spencer Knight to make it 1-0. That wasn’t all they had.
MacKinnon set up Necas less than three minutes later to double the lead. That was all either team had until Joel Kiviranta capped off the night with an empty-net goal for his 14th of the season.
Wedgewood made 20 saves to earn his second shutout of the season. At the other end, Knight lost for the first time with Chicago, stopping 18-of-20 shots.
Good: Scott Wedgewood Has Himself a Night
The Avs’ backup goalie stole the show, and the heart of every fan in the crowd. He not only had a perfect night, but he did it in a very Marc-Andre Fleury-like way. He was a showman — an entertainer. Simply put: Wedgewood had a lot of fun with this one.
In the first period, Hawks forward Colton Dach collided with him, which took Wedgewood off his skates. The puck trickled out to Connor Bedard and in desperation, Wedgewood lifted his pad while lying on his backside to stop Bedard from shooting it into the open net. There’s no telling if it would’ve counted had the puck gone in, but it was still a beautiful save.
The following period, Wedgewood outwaited Nick Foligno and used his glove to snatch the puck away at the goal line. Wedgewood jumped up after the save with the type of swagger you’d want from your goalie.
He also helped kill off a nearly two-minute-long 5-on-3 power play for the Blackhawks in the second. Somehow, Chicago had only 12 shots through a scoreless 40 minutes, but it felt like he made at least four excellent saves.
After the Avs got a 2-0 lead in the third, Wedgewood got a few more big stops, including a rush attack by Frank Nazar and a Tyler Bertuzzi opportunity from in close.
Bad: Reviews Are Going To Burn the NHL Someday
I do want to preface this by acknowledging that the Avs were offside and that opening goal early in the first period was rightfully waived off. Even MacKinnon admitted it.
But it was close. Really close.
I wanted to go on a bit of a rant about something. I’m not sure if I feel passionate enough about this to hammer it home every time, but I did want to note it today.
At some point, the league needs to determine how far it wants to go with reviews. Every team has a video coach sitting about a hundred yards away from the bench with an earpiece in to signal the head coach to challenge a play. It’s become almost automatic now. Video coaches can slow down plays, send the replay to the screens on the floor beneath Bednar’s feet, and quickly give their team notice that the play was offside.
I feel like it’s gone too far.
Offside reviews in particular were implemented for the obvious calls. And this wasn’t it. Part of me feels like there needs to be a limit on how long the officials can look at it. Or a limit of how much you can slow down a play before determining it was offsides by mere inches.
There’s something awkward about the Avs clearing the bench to celebrate MacKinnon’s 1,000th point only to see it challenged and called back. Again, it was offsides. MacKinnon said they knew that before the call was overturned.
It just feels like someday, we’re going to run into a situation where a big moment is erased because of an offside review. Whether it’s Alex Ovechkin’s record-breaking goal, a crucial playoff overtime tally, or worse — one that can clinch the Stanley Cup. We’re headed down a road where a coach’s ability to slow down the play, call for a challenge, and allow officials unlimited time to review the play is going to lead to a massive PR nightmare.
If you thought the skate in the crease in 1999 was bad, then be prepared for history to repeat itself.
Anyway, I felt it was worth getting that off my chest. Kudos to MacKinnon for eventually reaching the milestone in the third period. I just hate to see cool moments get erased like that.
Avalanche Game 69 at Toronto Maple Leafs: Lines, Notes & How To Watch
Deen’s Daily: Latest Manson Update; Eastern Conference Wildcard Race Heats Up
Avs’ Manson Could Miss a Significant Amount of Time
Deen’s Daily: An Upbeat Landeskog Joins Practice; Avs Goalie Depth; Florida Misses Ekblad
Gabriel Landeskog Joins First Practice With Avalanche — Still Not Taking Contact
10 Observations: Mackenzie Blackwood Is a Shootout Dud (+)
Could the Avalanche Have the Best Second Line in the NHL?
Digging Through the Numbers From the Avalancheโs Perfect Homestand
10 Observations: Sign Me Up For Seven Games of Avalanche vs Stars in April (+)
Avalanche Mailbag: Do the Avalanche Regret Trading Rantanen? Will Nelson Re-Sign? Is Bednar Still Underrated?
I’d like to see offsides review limited to only goals that directly result from the offsides play. In other words, if the puck stays in the zone and gets cycled around before the goal – or the offsides player is off to the side and doesn’t touch the puck – it’s not reviewable. Might not have changed the outcome of Mack’s first goal tonight but would avoid some ridiculous situations of goals being overturned for an offsides which happened 30 seconds earlier and didn’t contribute to the goal being scored.
Agree it should at least be limited to goals off the rush. They should also take the video replay coaches out of it altogether, if a coach/player doesnโt catch it in real time itโs not enough of an advantage to significantly impact the game. More goals and faster pace are better for the game.
I thought it was gonna be one of those games but the boys defied the odds.
It was nice seeing EJ out there. But the boys better pick it up defensively cause the hawks were cycling the puck real easy.
I think LOC should play instead of wood.
It was one of those games, but the Avs managed to win. They need better play tonight. I think you will see the normal lineup tonight. I agree that Kelly and O’Connor should be playing and are the better players. It may be better to give them a rest day separately, instead of playing Wood and Vesey together.
I think people and especially journalists complain way too much about offside reviews. If they restricted them the refs would be much more nervous and blow the whistle way more. -It would lead to more situations that wasn’t offside to be blown dead. I find this as frustrating as a goal being called back because it evidently was offside. -It would constantly break the flow of the game. Think of how many situations that was offside but didn’t lead to a goal and the game just kept going? 10, 50 or 100 times for every time there’s a goal? Offside… Read more »
Yeah. I have no issue with the video review stuff. Also teams only utilize it when they are pretty much 100% certain. The threat of receiving a minor penalty after just having given up a goal is enough of a deterrent 95% of the time from a coach challenging an iffy play. Plus, either have video review or don’t. If you’re going to make a type of situation (such as offside) video reviewable. You can’t then put caveats on it. As for the game. Pretty low event hockey game. Wedgewood was excellent. He made 2 absolute best of the year… Read more »
Johnson is an 8th d-man at this point. I think him playing last night was more for the fans and because it was Chicago. I understand giving Manson a rest on the back to backs. He needs to stay healthy. Other than injury, he probably should not get much time. Johnson’s impact is more in the locker room and mentoring Malinski. I think the Avs could have done better in upgrading their defense, but it is what it is. They need the forwards to play better team defense to help out. They cannot just let the other team skate into… Read more »
Actually EJ was in for Malinski, not Manson.
As an aside, Calle Rosen was signed to a 1 year deal as a depth LD and he’s spent the entire year in Loveland. I can’t find anything about an injury but a little surprised he hasn’t been called up once to get a look at him. Granted, it was on a bad team but he spent most of 1 year playing up with the Blues and he had games with the Leafs. That’s more than other AHL call ups have had
I know that Johnson replaced Malinski and Bednar made a point that Malinski has played well and it is about rest and keeping the scratches sharp. Manson, however, is the one who is injury prone and more important to the lineup when healthy.
As far as I can remember, Middleton is the only AHL defenseman that has been called up this year. Ludvig went to the Eagles, but has never returned. MacDonald is the Eagles leading scorer and AHL all-star, played 33 games for the Avs in 22-23, but has not been called up either.
I really liked the EJ game. I was amazed at the way a 6’04’ guy skated. Brandon Carlo wouldn’t have done better than him last night. By the way, did you see Carlo last Saturday because I didn’t see him and the rink was clearly leaning to one side.
good bad? i was impressed with Condor’s comeback! wow!!! he was in shape!
Agree. Only goals off of a rush into the zone, and I’d say the officials get 20 seconds to make a review, or the call on the ice stands.
Reviews in all sports need to have set time to overturn the call. If they can’t overturn the call within a set time, I would suggest 30 seconds, then the play stays as called.
Seem like this is a problem the league could solve the offsides issue with real-time AI review of video and telemetry from a chip in the puck. This could be instant and not screw up the pace of the game. I’m quite certain the tech exists to solve this issue at a modest expense by next season.
Count me as one who wants to abolish the offsides review altogether. I would be OK with his compromise that included 30 seconds at full speed, but to take 10 minutes to see if the skate blade is just barely past the line misses the whole point of offsides, Iโd rather see goals than face offs
The offside process is something of a mess, but I don’t think anyone knows what to do with it. It’s the same with goalie interference, although that’s so subjective that it’s even worse. That said, I don’t think it has the potential to be any worse than the skate in the crease, just because it’s challengeable. Even if challenges weren’t an option, if a team scored to win the Cup and the play was offside, or worse, if there was potential goalie interference, we’d still be talking about it for years. The fact that there’s a rule is why it… Read more »
The AI could determine whether there is an offside or not. It doesn’t matter if there’s a 1% margin of error. If neither the line judges nor the AI is able to detect whether or not there is offside when the game is in action, it means that the goal is good. The important thing is to detect flagrant offsides. Offsides because of 1 cm where you need a magnifying glass and play a video in slow motion to determine if there is offside or not, it’s completely stupid.
Right on Aarif! Totally agree and was thinking the same as you on the offside reviews. Ridiculous.