How two unsung heroes turned the Avalanche into real Cup contenders
Photo credit: The DNVR
Last season the Colorado Avalanche had a full rebuild at their goaltending position acquiring Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, and to many people's surprise, they exceeded expectations, becoming one of the best goalie duos in the NHL.
A solid goalie tandem will be crucial for the Avalanche due to the gruelling nature of this year's schedule.
Avalanche goalie tandem proved to be one of the best in the league.
Katie Barlett of Mile High Sticking recently reported on the unexpected success of the two recent goalie acquisitions of Blackwood and Wedgewood.
"Georgiev had 18 starts, a record of 8-7-0, a 3.38 goals-against average, and a .874 save percentage while Annunen posted a 6-4-0 record, a 3.23 GAA, and a .872 SV% over 9 starts.Once Wedgewood and Blackwood arrived, it all turned around. On the Avs, Blackwood had 36 starts, posted 22-12-3 record with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage while Wedgewood had a record of 13-4-1 with 1.99 GAA and a .917 SV% over 18 starts." -Barlett
Turns out, if the Avalanche would have had the pair all year, their projected record would have been second best in the Western Conference, and they would have had home ice advantage in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Dallas Stars.
It is hard to measure if a goalie can make the rest of his team around him perform better, but it actually did occur once the duo began playing for the Avalanche.
"After the Blackwood acquisition, the team gave up 149.14 expected goals worth of scoring chances (2.814/GP), which jumped them up to 6th best in the league over that span. But the actual number of goals scored on them during those 53 games was way less with only 128 going in the net (2.415/GP). That figure was the second best in the league. The simple fact of having confidence in their goaltending tandem led the Avs from being one of the weakest teams in the league defensively to one of the strongest." -Barlett
Strong goaltending, and especially a reliable tandem, gives a team the confidence to play its game. For a high-powered, risk-taking club like the Avalanche, having netminders capable of bailing them out on a nightly basis is essential. That's precisely what Colorado gained with their recent additions in goal.
Source:
Mile High Sticking
Stat Stories: How Blackwood and Wedgewood transformed the Colorado Avalanche
Mile High Sticking
Stat Stories: How Blackwood and Wedgewood transformed the Colorado Avalanche
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 5 | 16 ANSWERS How two unsung heroes turned the Avalanche into real Cup contenders Is the Blackwood and Wedgewood duo a top 5 tandem in the NHL? | ||
| yes | 13 | 81.3 % |
| no | 3 | 18.8 % |
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