Jared Bednar lights up Avs about pulling Blackwood: ‘I’d have pulled a whole bunch of guys’

Jared Bednar: 'If I could have made changes to our lineup … I'd have pulled a whole bunch of guys, not just Blackwood'

May 13, 2026, 10:24 PM

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Jared Bednar pulled Mackenzie Blackwood after one period Wednesday night. He wanted everyone to know: he would have pulled a lot more players if he could have.

Blackwood allowed three goals on 13 shots in Game 5 against the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena — goals from Marcus Johansson 34 seconds in, then Nick Foligno at 11:03 and Foligno again at 15:56. A fourth puck from Michael McCarron got behind him as well but was disallowed. The Avalanche were lifeless, and Bednar had seen enough.

He turned to Scott Wedgewood for the start of the second period, and Wedgewood stopped all seven shots he faced across 43:14 of relief — including staring down McCarron, who shot wide 12 seconds into overtime — as the Avalanche rallied to win 4-3 and clinch the series in five games.

Bednar said the decision was not entirely about Blackwood’s play.

“In a regular season game, I would have left Blackwood in there, because he was no different than the rest of our team,” Bednar said. “We just weren’t good enough… you’re looking for a spark.”

The Avalanche’s head coach acknowledged the difficulty of singling out his goaltender when the entire group was at fault.

“That’s a tough situation, because everyone else had the opportunity to turn it around and Blackwood didn’t,” Bednar said. “But I just kind of felt like everything that was coming to the net, he wasn’t controlling the rebounds. There was too much garbage in front of the net, and if that’s the way they were going to play, we needed to handle some pucks clean — through traffic and without traffic. And Blackie wasn’t doing that.”

Foligno’s second goal — the Wild’s third — came off a rebound Blackwood should have controlled, exactly the kind of sequence Bednar referenced.

“So I felt like this could be an opportunity to spark our group, maybe get a heck of a performance out of Wedge — which we did,” Bednar said. “But again, if I could have made changes to our lineup with healthy bodies after the first period, I’d have pulled a whole bunch of guys, not just Blackwood.”

The roles were reversed just four days earlier. In Game 3’s 5-1 loss in St. Paul, it was Wedgewood who got the hook after allowing three goals on 12 shots, with Blackwood entering in relief for the first time this postseason. Blackwood responded with a strong start in the Game 4 victory, a 5-2 win that put Colorado on the brink.

On Wednesday, it was Blackwood’s stepping aside and Wedgewood answering. That reciprocity is exactly what Bednar has pointed to all year.

Bednar has maintained throughout the playoffs that his goaltending is a tandem — just as it was during the regular season, when Wedgewood led the NHL in both goals-against average (2.02) and save percentage (.921) while going 31-6-6 in 45 games.

The switch Wednesday may have had some panic to it, but it’s also been the team’s system.

When asked what message he delivered during the first intermission, Bednar declined to share specifics but described his approach as stripping things down to basics.

“It wasn’t anything crazy,” he said. “Just trying to give them a message that simplifies where it starts for us. What’s the starting point here? Because we were losing all over the ice in every aspect.

“So just trying to break it down — where do we start, what do we concentrate on first, and then what’s next? And if you give them a third thing, then just do that. And we’ll start to gain a little momentum.”

The Avalanche outshot the Wild 9-3 in the second period and 9-4 in the third, a complete reversal from the opening 20 minutes. Wedgewood was not heavily tested but was exactly what the moment required — calm, clean and in control.

“You can tell — probably some puck-playing decisions early in the first cost us, and you got an open game,” Wedgewood said. “Then you get into the second period, and we start putting pucks deep, getting our forecheck back. The crowd gets a little bit more into it, you get some chances.

Scott Wedgewood said it “felt like the momentum” changed for the Avalanche and they held onto it for 40 minutes. He had two thoughtful answers on that comeback. Which he was a huge part of. pic.twitter.com/jdtS6vyQGC

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) May 14, 2026

“I think after the first, the group felt pretty dead, just the way that they kind of signed up so early. But then once we started buzzing … we did a great job. And when you can push a team like that for 20 minutes, it’s going to be a wave of us coming after every shift. That fundamental change — we held on to it for 40 minutes.”

Wedgewood, who has been a pro through this whole process, and has been a backup at almost all levels of pro hockey — including to Blackwood in the minors — credited the partnership.

“We pull for each other in every moment, everyone’s picking him up, picking me up, ready to go,” he said.”

The Avs have now won seven of Wedgewood’s eight appearances this postseason. Wedgewood had only played four playoff games before this spring.

The Avalanche scored four unanswered goals after the switch , capped by Brett Kulak’s overtime winner, sending Colorado to the Western Conference Final.

Whatever awaits in the next round, Bednar has two goalies who trust the arrangement — and two games’ worth of evidence that pulling the starter can turn a series.