Avalanche news: Avs salvage point, Makar the hero, Wedgewood solid in return

The Colorado Avalanche faced a tough Nashville Predators team on Tuesday night. The Preds came out looking to dethrone the NHL’s best team. They nearly pulled off a regulation victory. But the heroics of Cale Makar prevented the Predators from handing the Avs their third regulation loss this season.

All told, the Avalanche showed great resilience, pulling out of Nashville with a highly valuable point. Despite losing 4-3 in the shootout, the game showed plenty of positive points for Colorado.

So, let’s take a closer look at some key points in this edition of the Avalanche news and notes.

Avalanche salvage a point in Nashville

A phenomenon we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks is that every team playing Colorado is looking to play its best game. There’s an element of pride in trying to beat the NHL’s best club. That effort was on display on Tuesday night. The Predators did not want to be pushovers. Instead, they took the Avalanche to the limit.

The Avs opened the scoring 1:12 into the game. But from there, the Predators pushed to get a 2-1 lead. The two goals were scored roughly 1:30 apart. The situation was the only lapse in the game by the Avalanche. Both teams played a tight, solid defensive game the rest of the way.

The Predators got a goal midway through the third period. It nearly stood as the game-winner if not for the heroics of Cale Makar.

Makar the hero

The Avalanche scored a power play goal with less than ten seconds in the game. The goal came courtesy of Cale Makar as the Avs ran a 6-4 power play.

Here’s a look at the tally, as shown on the Avalanche’s official X channel:

Makar deserves credit for two key moves during this sequence. First, he drew the penalty that set up the power play. Erik Haula took the only penalty in the third period. As such, it put the Predators down a man at the worst possible time.

Second, Makar made a sick move on Michael McCarron in the dying seconds of the third period. McCarron had squared himself up to block the shot. Instead, Makar pulled the puck just a little, psyched McCarron, and then let the shot fly.

The traffic in front of Juuse Saros, who had been brilliant all night, impeded the Nashville goalie from seeing the puck. The shot got through and led to the game-tying goal.

The tally was Makar’s first power play goal this season.

Wedgewood solid in return

A major silver lining in the game was the return of Scott Wedgewood. He was back in the crease to face his former team. Despite the two quick first-period goals, Wedgewood was fantastic. He made 25 saves on the night, including a key one in overtime on Adam Wilsby just about as time was about to expire.

Wedgewood’s return could not have come any sooner. The Avalanche netminder will likely give MacKenzie Blackwood a couple of games off after Blackwood played ironman hockey over the weekend.

Wedgewood has about two weeks to prove he’s healthy enough to get consideration for Team Canada’s Olympic roster. The chatter is that he’s fourth on the depth chart behind Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson, and Darcy Kuemper. However, Binnington hasn’t been his best all season. Meanwhile, Wedgewood could push Kuemper. As such, we may still see Wedgewood beat out someone for the third slot in Team Canada’s crease.

The Avalanche will be back on the ice on Thursday night as they host the Florida Panthers at Ball Arena as part of a quick two-game homestand.