The moment wasn’t too big for Scott Wedgewood. And quite frankly, it rarely ever has been for the Avalanche netminder.
In his first career playoff start, at the ripe age of 33 years old, the veteran from Brampton, Ontario, stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced on Sunday to help Colorado to a 2-1 victory at Ball Arena. The Avs grabbed a 1-0 series lead.
“I thought he was fantastic,” head coach Jared Bednar said of his Game 1 starter. “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.”
Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Conner scored for the Avalanche. O’Connor could’ve had one more but it was waved off for goalie interference. The Avs outshot the Kings 30-25, including 13 shots in the second period, where they finally broke through late.
“That’s the kind of game you can expect playing the Kings. It’s a tight checking team,” Bednar said. “I’m comfortable with that. I think our team’s comfortable with that. It’s going to be hard to create offense. We had three goals tonight. One was disallowed, and I liked what we did on the defensive side of things, to sort of minimize the quality of scoring chances, the quantity of scoring chances. Managed the puck well, so our guys played the right way and got the job done tonight, and then we gotta go do it again.”
Lehkonen’s opening goal came with 4:31 remaining in the second period. The winger went to the net while Nathan MacKinnon was at the half wall, shooting it on goalie Anton Forsberg. The rebound was in front, and Lehkonen outmuscled Drew Doughty to get to it first, before shoveling it past Forsberg to make it 1-0.
That was the only goal either team mustered through 40 minutes. The first period felt more like a feel-out for the two clubs, with the Avs getting a 9-6 shot advantage.
“It was a tight match, for sure,” Lehkonen said of the first period. “I mean, we, for sure, had our looks. Maybe missed a little bit too much.”
In the third, the Avalanche needed 5:50 to get on the board again. This time it was O’Connor.
Earlier in the second, O’Connor thought he had a goal but it was instantly waved off because linemate Jack Drury had made contact with Forsberg just as O’Connor shot it. Forsberg was out of position, which allowed the puck to go past him. Drury was skating to the net and L.A. defenseman Drew Doughty made contact with him to assist in steering him towards the goalie.
Bednar and his coaching staff challenged the play to try to get the goal on the board. But it was unsuccessful.
“I was just trying to get to the net, and obviously ran into Doughty there and then hit the goalie. So just trying to go to the net, and it is what it is,” Drury said. “I think our staff’s done a great job all year, knowing when to challenge and when not to challenge, and I think we got the kill right after so wasn’t a big deal.”
Colorado was 3-for-4 on the PK and didn’t score on four power play opportunities. The Kings lone goal was scored on their final PP late in the third.
Artemi Panarin hadn’t done much to that point, but he got the tally to end Wedgewood’s shutout bid with 2:22 remaining. The Kings had a 6-on-4 attack with the goalie pulled to make it happen.
“It’s a little frustrating six on four to give one up there, but at the end of the day, it’s just about the result for the team at the end, and it’s a big win for us,” Drury said.
Scoring the first goal in hockey doesn’t guarantee a win. Almost never.
But given the way the Kings were playing, and how dialed in Forsberg looked, it felt like a game where the first goal was going to matter. When the Avalanche were rushing up the ice, the Kings had one forechecker at the top of the play and the other four guys in a box behind him. Their entire game plan, and understandably so, was to try to make this a low-scoring, no offense game.
If they had scored first late in the second, they could’ve doubled down on that tactic and really parked the bus. But once Lehkonen got one, L.A. needed to push more on the offensive, and Colorado simply wasn’t going to lose that battle.
Kings coach D.J. Smith credited his team for keeping the high-scoring Avs to just two goals. He also knows that one goal isn’t always going to win you games. With that in mind, it’ll be nice to see how things shift in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
The first Avalanche power play in the opening period was a mess, but things really picked up after that. Colorado got several chances on its second opportunity, but Forsberg made some strong saves.