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The Colorado Avalanche had been favorites to win the Stanley Cup for months, but they no longer are after getting drubbed 5-1 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series at Minnesota. And now the Avalanche might be panicking a bit with a possible goalie change ahead of tonight’s Game 4 in the Twin Cities. It’s an 8 p.m. ET puck drop in the only NHL game of the night. 

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BetRivers same-game parlay (-115)

  • Wild +1.5
  • Alt Under 7.5

I have never coached hockey and only played on the frozen ponds and lakes of Michigan way back in the day, so I’m not about to advise Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on what to do in net. But it sure would seem like an overreaction to me if he were to bench Scott Wedgewood because of one poor game Saturday. Dude was 31-6-6 with a 2.02 goals-against average with a .921 save percentage (GAA and SV led the NHL) during the regular season and four shutouts.

He had been about as good in these playoffs (especially Round 1, giving up only five total goals), starting every game, before allowing three goals on 12 shots in 24:23 of ice time in Game 3 before being pulled for fellow Canadian Mackenzie Blackwood. Blackwood stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced over the remaining 32:27 in Colorado’s first loss of these playoffs.

That dropped the Avalanche to +190 second favorites behind Carolina (+150) to win the Stanley Cup. The Hurricanes are sitting home waiting for their Eastern Conference Finals opponent (either Buffalo or Montreal) and are 8-0 this postseason. Avs star forward Nathan MacKinnon remains the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite, however, at +340 via FanDuel, with Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen at +500.

Wedgewood did also struggle in Game 1 of this series – but won – so perhaps Bednar has reason to make the switch. “We’ll have a decision to make, but there’s a decision to make every night,” he mentioned following Game 3. Blackwood was pretty good during the regular season, too, at 23-10-2 with a 2.51 GAA, .904 SV and three shutouts. But his last start was way back on April 14 in Calgary. 

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I thought Minnesota coach John Hynes did panic when he subbed out netminder Jesper Wallstedt for fellow Swede Filip Gustavsson ahead of Game 2. Wallstedt was horrible in the opener, sure, but Gustavsson wasn’t much better in that Game 2 loss. It was back to Wallstedt for Game 3, and I’d imagine there’s no doubt he’s starting tonight. He has tied Dwayne Roloson (five in 2003) for the most wins in a single postseason in Wild history.

Kirill Kaprizov (goal, two assists) and blueliner Quinn Hughes (goal and assist) were the offensive stars of Game 3 for Minnesota.  Kaprizov tied MacKinnon for the most three-point games among all players this postseason with three and briefly overtook the Vegas Golden Knights’ Mitch Marner for the overall playoff scoring lead with 14 points — Marner jumped back ahead Sunday night and now has 16 points. Kaprizov is -270 for at least a point tonight.

Hughes’ four goals are a franchise single-postseason record for a defenseman, and the American is tied for third in total playoff points with 13. The Wild utterly stole him from Vancouver via trade back in mid-December. Hughes also became the first defenseman and fifth player in Wild history to score multiple game-winning goals in a single postseason. He’s +475 to find the net.

Minnesota has gotten eight goals overall from defensemen in these playoffs to set a team record. It is also now 3-0 when scoring first, which is tied with Carolina (6-0), Colorado (5-0) and Anaheim (2-0) for the best win percentage among remaining teams.

The Wild try to become the third team in the past six postseasons to tie a series against the NHL’s No. 1 overall seed at 2-2 after dropping each of the first two games, along with St. Louis in Round 1 last year vs. Winnipeg and Vegas in Round 2 of 2021 vs. Colorado. The Blues fell in seven and the Golden Knights won in six.

It’s possible the Wild get a veteran reinforcement or two back Monday in forward Joel Eriksson Ek and blueliner Jonas Brodin. Neither has played in the series due to injury but also haven’t been ruled out for Game 4 as of publication. Colorado defenseman Josh Manson hasn’t played in the series, either, but also isn’t ruled out. He was fifth in the NHL during the regular season with a plus-42 rating as four of the top five guys were Avalanche players. 

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The SportsLine Projection Model has Avalanche winning 3.1-2.7, and even a 3-3 regulation draw works perfectly fine for me. Wedgewood’s confidence might be shaken or Blackwood rusty. Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.