The Aftermath: Wedgewood Shines, Avalanche Defeat Mammoth 2-1 in Home Opener

DENVER — Scott Wedgewood doesn’t get paid like a tandem goalie, but he’s about as valuable a player as the Avalanche have right now.

Wedgewood made 32 saves on Thursday, many of which were odd-man rushes off of turnovers, to help Colorado defeat the Utah Mammoth 2-1 in its 2025-26 home opener at Ball Arena.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead tally on the power play in the third period, and Ross Colton had the opening goal. Despite the Avs never trailing, the man of the match was still Wedgewood, and it wasn’t even close.

He’s the only goalie option right now while Mackenzie Blackwood continues to rehab. And he makes just $1.5 million against the cap. It’s quite the bargain between the pipes.

“We don’t win without him tonight,” head coach Jared Bednar said.

The first goal was a masterpiece play by the third line. Winger Victor Olofsson brought the puck into the zone and sent a clean saucer pass from right to left to Jack Drury. The center had Colton trailing and one-touched it to him to complete the tic-tac-toe play.

Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka read the play the entire way but still couldn’t react as quickly as he needed to.

“I saw Ross before I got it,” Drury said. “And Ross was ready to shoot, so it made my decision easy.”

The Avs carried that lead into the break, before a brutal second period almost let the game slip away. It took more than 14 minutes for Colorado to record its first shot in the middle frame. And that included two terrible power-play opportunities that couldn’t generate anything.

The Mammoth got on the PP later on, and Guenther scored three seconds into it to even the score before the second intermission.

MacKinnon and the Avs power play responded, even though it took a few zone entries to get the job done. MacKinnon’s first of the season made it 2-1 early in the third, and it was all Wedgewood the rest of the way.

What Worked

Wedgewood the Starter

Wedgewood isn’t letting the moment get too big for him. When I chatted with him before the game, he made it clear that he’s not really feeling any extra pressure as the team’s season-opening starter. And he credited his age and experience for that.

In Los Angeles on Tuesday, Wedgewood stepped up in moments when he was needed. But by the time the Kings started to pour it on offensively, it was already 4-0 Colorado.

This game wasn’t like that. Wedgewood held things down in a dud of a second period, only allowing a power-play goal in a stretch of play where the Utah Mammoth had all the offense. He stopped breakaways, he made desperation saves, and he did it all while calm, cool, and collected.

He even saved his best for the remainder of the game after MacKinnon’s go-ahead tally. There was a shorthanded kick save a few minutes later, followed by multiple breakaways as the game inched closer to its end.

Then, in the final minute, while Utah was on a lengthy 6-on-5 attack, Wedgewood made a massive stop on Dylan Guenther to put one final touch on his second win of the season. Guenther had Utah’s only goal, and a total of seven shots.

“I don’t like leaning on our goalie like that, but it didn’t look like we had a lot of jump tonight,” Bednar said. “I thought they had much more jump than we did, for whatever reason. And some nights you have it, some nights you don’t, you gotta find a way to grind through it. And on those nights you need your goalie big time, and we got him tonight.”

What Didn’t

Special Teams, Kind of?

I’m still struggling to put together an opinion on the early season special teams. On one hand, the power play has looked discombobulated. Especially early in L.A. and in the second period at Ball Arena. They’re not as dangerous as they should be, given the pieces they have.

But on the other hand, they’ve got a PP tally in each game. And in this one, it ended up being the all-important go-ahead goal. Bednar had Gabe Landeskog on the top unit in place of Artturi Lehkonen when MacKinnon fired it home.

Landeskog had a solid third period all-around, and helped take the goalie’s eyes away for MacKinnon. But, that goal still came after the lifeless PP opportunities in the second, and another PP chance later in the third that nearly led to a shorthanded goal against.

The penalty kill has also done great things. They were solid in the later stages against the Kings and held it together on two Utah chances, including the one after the Avs regained the lead. But through two games, the only two goals against have come while shorthanded. So perhaps there’s more to work on in that department, too.