Scott Wedgewood will take the net for the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, the team confirmed as the best-of-7 series opens.
Wedgewood’s promotion is not a vote of faith born of a single game. He posted a.921 save percentage over 45 regular-season appearances, finishing 31-6-6, and he started seven of Colorado’s nine games through the first two rounds of the postseason. Stat charts also show scott wedgewood led the NHL with that.921 mark during the regular season.
The numbers behind the decision are significant. Wedgewood logged the bulk of Colorado’s playoff workload early: he appeared in eight playoff games and posted a.914 save percentage in those outings. NHL.com also tracked 100 goals against each goaltender late in the regular season and through the first two rounds, a reminder that both nets have been tested at volume and that counting saves alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
Context sharpens the matchup. Carter Hart has started each of Vegas’s 12 playoff games, a workload that leaves little mystery about the other side of the ice. Colorado could turn to Mackenzie Blackwood as a relief option — Blackwood picked up a win in the second round against the Minnesota Wild — but the club has chosen Wedgewood to begin the conference final.
The friction in this call is obvious. Wedgewood’s regular-season excellence led the NHL in save percentage, yet his playoff mark slipped to.914 in eight games, a measurable dip when the stakes rise. At the same time, Hart’s unbroken run of 12 starts for Vegas means the Golden Knights are riding a hot but heavily used netminder into a series where small margins decide games. Both situations reflect strain: one of sustained regular-season dominance that has cooled slightly in the postseason, the other of wear that comes from constant exposure.
The Avalanche are betting the balance tips in their favor. Starting the netminder who carried Colorado to a 31-6-6 regular-season ledger and who handled seven of nine playoff starts signals trust in Wedgewood’s consistency and in the team structure in front of him. For a best-of-7 series, that stability can be decisive: a string of sharp nights from the starter can shorten the series, while inconsistency invites length and depth to determine the winner.
What matters next is concrete. If Wedgewood can trim his postseason save rate closer to his.921 regular-season clip, Colorado’s decision will look prescient; if the gap widens, the Avalanche may turn more quickly to Blackwood. Either way, the Western Conference Final will pivot on which goaltender can limit high-danger chances over a series that rewards short bursts of dominance and punishes lapses.
For now, Wedgewood carries the net and the expectations that come with his regular-season ledger and playoff workload; the immediate question is not whether he earned the start, but whether he can reassert the form that led the NHL and carry Colorado through the best-of-7 stretch against a goaltender who has already weathered 12 postseason starts.
