10 Observations: All the Kudos Went to Scott Wedgewood Following Avalanche’s Home Opener (+)

Head coach Jared Bednar admitted after the game that it’s not ideal to have to lean on the goalie as much as they did against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday.

But when you don’t have your legs — when you’re fighting through it — it’s nice to know you have someone who can stop the puck.

Last season, the Avs had the offense. They were scoring goals at will in the first few games of the year, but the goalies were letting them down. This was a nice change. It was the polar opposite, and it’s insane to sit back and realize that there’s still another guy who makes nearly four times as much as Wedgewood to be the starter.

Things are looking up between the pipes. Wedgewood was the most popular man in front of $18,000+ fans.

He was also receiving all the kudos in the locker room from his teammates after the game.

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

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1. Oftentimes, when media is let into the locker room, a bunch of the Avalanche players are already pouring out to hit the showers. But this time they weren’t leaving as quickly. And it wasn’t because they were waiting to answer questions.

It was because Wedgewood’s stall had a line of players waiting to shake his hand. First it was Martin Necas, then Victor Olofsson. Samuel Girard followed him, and then others were right behind.

2. Several media members started to gather around Wedgewood to talk about his game. Another set of media was two stalls over talking to Ross Colton, who scored the first goal.

I went to the other side of the room and waited for Jack Drury, who had the sweet assist on the Colton goal. It took a few minutes for Drury to come in. When he did, I spoke to him for a solid three or so minutes. When he left, Colton was also already gone.

But Wedgewood? Still holding court, answering questions, breaking down the game, and doing it with a smile on his face.

3. Bednar said something postgame about how the Avs don’t have a $10 million goalie and instead, they pay two guys. I get what he was saying, but it also made me smirk because not only is Wedgewood not paid like a tandem goalie, but he’s one of the more underpaid pure backup goalies.

You can’t ask for much more from a guy making just $1.5 million against the cap. He was 13-4-1 last season after the late November trade, and he’s already 2-0-0 this season with a sparkling .966 save percentage.

I don’t understand why the Nashville Predators gave up on him so quickly. But I’m happy that Chris MacFarland jumped on the opportunity to bring him in.

4. That second period was an absolute dud. I’m not entirely sure how or why the Avs completely went to sleep, but they had a pretty solid ending to the first and a lot to build on. It was the complete opposite of how it went in L.A. on Tuesday.

5. Kudos to them for bouncing back in the early stages of the third, though. It started with a good shift from Gabe Landeskog and the second line, which led to a penalty against the Mammoth, and eventually the game-winning power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon.

6. That goal from the third line was gorgeous. The chemistry between the three of them is something special. What a saucer pass, what a drop pass, and what a shot.

Having one of your lower lines score a goal like that was a nice change from last year’s home opener. The forward lines looked like this in that game against Columbus.