Sunday Success

Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced to record his first Stanley Cup Playoff win and help the Avalanche defeat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game One of the First Round on Sunday at Ball Arena. Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor scored for Colorado, while Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Drury each recorded an assist. 

“I’m really happy with the way we played, too,” Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. “I think that’s the kind of game you can expect playing the Kings. It’s a tight-checking team. What’d they play in, 50-something one-goal games and low-scoring games? I’m comfortable with that. I think our team’s comfortable with that. [It’s] gonna be hard to create offense…I liked what we did on the defensive side of things to minimize the quality of scoring chances, the quantity of scoring chances. [We] managed the puck well. Our guys played the right way and we got the job done tonight.”

Colorado outshot Los Angeles 30-25 overall that included an 22-16 mark through the first two periods of the game. Additionally, the Avalanche killed three of four penalties it took with Wedgewood stopping five of six shots while Colorado was short-handed.

“I thought he was fantastic,” Bednar said about Wedgewood. “He did everything he needed to do…Obviously bigger stakes, more emotion, but played the exact same way that he’s been playing for us all year.”