Goalie Duo Powering Avalanche's Netminding Revival

One year ago, the Avalanche’s goalkeeping was terrible. Led by Justus Annunen and Alexander Georgiev, Colorado had the worst save percentage in the NHL, which hampered the team from succeeding at a high level, even with the expert-level scoring from MacKinnon and company.

That’s all flipped on its head this season thanks to the continued emergence of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood. Together, the pair has accumulated the best save percentage in the league — Wedgewood at .918 and Blackwood at .911 — enabling Colorado to not only have an elite offense but a stellar defense as well.

Wedgewood has emerged as the lead netminder out of the two. Through 17 starts, he’s won a league-high 13 games and has a 2.09 goals-against average (GAA). It’s by far the best start to a campaign he’s had in his career.

What makes it all the more astonishing is that Wedgewood was a journeyman backup prior to arriving in Denver midway through last season. He’d had a good run with the Dallas Stars that showed his ability to elevate the team when starter Jake Oettinger was unable to go, but it wasn’t until his time with the Avalanche that he truly became a leading man.

Then there’s Blackwood, who shares a similar story to his goalkeeping counterpart in Wedgewood. The 28-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ontario, spent the majority of his career with the New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks before arriving via trade to the Avalanche last year. It was his emergence in net that helped spark the team toward a run to the Stanley Cup playoffs — one that ultimately fell short to the Stars in the first round. Still, despite the lack of playoff success, it was clear the team had found something with its goalkeeping.

Blackwood has not played in nearly as many games as he did a year ago, but he’s still mighty productive when he’s in the lineup. In his four games — all of which are starts — he’s 3-0-1 and has allowed just 10 goals. It’s not dominance, but it’s been good enough — and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day.

The Avalanche Can Win It All

Nobody’s denying that the Avalanche are amazing; the real question lies in whether they can actually make a deep run in the playoffs and lift the Stanley Cup when everything is said and done.

If Wedgewood and Blackwood keep up the pace, and the rest of the squad continues to pick up the rest of the slack, then Colorado won’t just be champions; it’ll be one of the best teams of all time. That might sound audacious, but the team is currently on pace to finish with 138 points, which would be an NHL record.

Yes, MacKinnon, Makar and all the other stars that make up the roster deserve a ton of credit for getting this team to where it's at right now, but don't miss out on the dominance in net. After all, when the opposition isn’t scoring, which it hasn't been all season, the Avalanche are usually the team coming out on top.