Playoff Preview: The Puck Stoppers

What happens in net is always important.

What happens in net seems to be the crux of any playoff series and the expectation should be no different in this first round match between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. Especially as this is a clash of two strong teams worthy of the Conference Finals it will be up to the goaltenders to make a few big saves and save a few big games.

Colorado

The Avalanche will enter the postseason with two new netminders but hope to have MacKenzie Blackwood carry the load. One wrinkle to that plan is Blackwood hasn’t seen any postseason minutes in the NHL and only experienced brief action in the minor leagues nearly a decade ago. Blackwood has also never won a game against the Stars in his career going 0-4-1 with a .902 save percentage and 3.60 goals against average. One caveat to that is Blackwood hasn’t faced Dallas yet as a member of the Avalanche.

Scott Wedgewood is the other man at Colorado’s disposal in net and considering his strong play as of late it might not be out of the question that he sees the crease especially if Jared Bednar wishes to change things up. Wedgewood doesn’t have much playoff experience himself but it all came as member of the Dallas Stars. In 2022-23 he entered three games with no decision and the following year he was dressed as a backup for 19 contests.

Like the rest of the team, Blackwood has been a bit uneven for the last couple of months. A recent highlight has been a 22-save shutout of the LA Kings but he’s also given up three or more goals nine times in his last 16 starts. The good news is Wedgewood has seen a fair bit of action down the stretch with ten of his own starts since the Four Nations break and has only given up three goals once — to Dallas. If the Avalanche go on a long postseason run it is likely Wedgewood will somehow factor into that success, and perhaps earlier than expected.

Photo by Kirk Irwin/NHLI via Getty Images

Dallas

The Stars are likely going to ride their starter Jake Oettinger as far as he can take them. Lifetime statistics against Colorado shows Oettinger’s results are mixed as he holds a record of 5-3-2 with a .911 save percentage and 3.14 GAA. But in the second round series in last year’s postseason Oettinger won the series with a 4-2 record, the same .911 save percentage but a 2.24 GAA. He will have to stand tall in net to give Dallas the advantage but Oettinger has backstopped Dallas to a second place finish in the Central Division with a 36-18-4 record, 2.59 GAA and .909 save percentage. Backup Casey DeSmith has had a solid season as well if called upon but has only seen three games of action in his seven-year NHL career.

Advantage

This one is tough to call as Blackwood (2.33 GAA, .913 sv%) and Wedgewood (1.99 GAA, .917 sv%) have strong regular season statistics with the Avalanche but Oettinger is a much more experienced playoff goaltender. If the team in front of the Woods can hold up their end of the bargain they can do enough to get by in this series and gain that valuable experience, I’ll give Colorado the edge in this series.