Avalanche lose Game 3 to Wild, switch from Wedgewood to Blackwood

The Colorado Avalanche weren’t going to go 16-0 in the NHL playoffs.

That’s never happened and probably never will.

Still, losses always sting. And that’s what went down in Game 3 against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

The Avs fell 5-1 and now have a 2-1 series lead in their Round 2 showdown. And the headline will be that Colorado head coach Jared Bednar pulled goaltender Scott Wedgewood and inserted Mackenzie Blackwood with the Avalanche trailing 3-0 in the second period.

Wedgewood was 6-0 in the first six games of the postseason, but Bednar had seen enough fewer than 25 minutes into the contest. Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman scored on the power play to make it 3-0 early in the second and that ended Wedgewood’s night. He finished with nine saves on 12 shots.

Nathan MacKinnon would score to cut the deficit to 3-1 later in the frame, but the Wild responded just 20 seconds later to go back up by three goals and that was basically all she wrote. Brock Faber beat Blackwood with the benefit of a lucky bounce.

Colorado is still in control of the series, but Game 4 on Monday night obviously becomes pivotal.

The first period featured a huge save by Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt on Avalanche forward Parker Kelly and then the Wild started relentlessly attacking Wedgewood.

That led to two goals in fewer than two minutes with the Minnesota stars showing up in a big way.

First, it was Kirill Kaprizov in a 4-on-4 situation finding open ice and beating Wedgewood on a mini-breakaway to open the scoring. There was nothing the Colorado net-minder could do about it.

And then with Avs defenseman Devon Toews in the penalty box for hooking, the Wild made Colorado pay. Wedgewood lost his stick and stud defenseman Quinn Hughes sniped a puck into the net to make it 2-0.

Shots in the first 20 minutes were 10-9 Wild, but Minnesota capitalized on its chances while Colorado did not.

Now, the obvious question is who starts Game 4 for the Avalanche, Wedgewood or Blackwood? Bednar will have fewer than 48 hours to figure it out.

If Colorado comes back to Ball Arena on Wednesday night up three games to one, it’s mission accomplished. A split on the road in the playoffs is a good thing.

But if Minnesota ties the series 2-2 with a victory — things will get sweaty in a hurry.

Again, the Avalanche were very unlikely to go undefeated in the postseason. They’re allowed to lose a game.

Yet the future of the series and the emotions of fans everywhere will depend heavily on what happens on Monday.

Buckle up, advancing to the Western Conference Final could be more difficult than anticipated after the Avs won the first two games by three goals each.

Is there a goalie controversy? We’re certainly fixing to find out.

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