Wedgewood makes 32 saves, Avalanche shut out Mammoth

DENVER -- Scott Wedgewood made 32 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche won their 13th consecutive home game, 1-0 against the Utah Mammoth at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

“There's nights when you kind of trick your mind that you're feeling good, and tonight was one of the nights where I didn't have to do any of that,” Wedgewood said. “My mind was in it from the get-go. Got off to a pretty hot start, and they're a team that makes you think. They’ve got turnaways and guys fading and finding different spots, and they move the puck quick. So it's not a game where you can really turn your mind off or be half a second behind, and I felt that the IQ tonight was firing on all cylinders.”

The shutout was Wedgewood’s second of the season and his 10th in the NHL.

“He was the best player on the ice for either team. There's no question,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.

Samuel Girard scored for the Avalanche (27-2-7), who have won six straight and reached 61 points this season, making them the fourth team in NHL history to reach the 60-point mark in 36 games.

“It's a testament to the guys and the hard work that they've put in and the focus that they've been able to maintain [through] the first half of the season or whatever,” Bednar said. “It’s hard to play that many games where you don't have off nights or nights that hurt you badly, and I'm really proud of the guys, because they're finding a way to be in every game, even if they don't have their best stuff.”

Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for the Mammoth (18-18-3), who have alternated wins and losses in their past six games (3-3-0).

“I think it was a [heck] of a game,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “Happy about the way we played. That's disappointing we could not find a way to put it behind 'Wedge', but we had our chances. We generated a lot of offense.

“Just too bad we could not get at least one point or get the result on our side. I think we could deserve better, but they're a really good team on the other side, and they found a way.”

Girard scored on a breakaway to put Colorado up 1-0 at 7:57 of the second period. He picked off Utah forward Clayton Keller’s pass in the neutral zone and took it in alone before roofing a backhand over the left shoulder of Vanecek from atop the crease.

“It was nice,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “He made a great read in the neutral zone, jumped on a loose puck, and then the puck just didn't stop wobbling on him, rolling on him, bouncing on him. But he stuck with it and made a great backhand shot top shelf. So great to see him get rewarded, for sure.”

Wedgewood stopped Dylan Guenther on a breakaway after he stepped out of the penalty box at 14:48 of the second period.

Wedgewood then robbed Keller with a glove save at the right post at 15:15 of the second period, and video review confirmed the call on the ice that the puck had not crossed the goal line.

“Where I caught it, I knew I was close and felt the post, and it was just kind of my body weight was sliding back and I had to push my hand forward,” Wedgewood said. “It was a little unorthodox, but watching the replays that they showed us, I know they get different camera [angles] in the situation and stuff like that, felt pretty confident I kept it out. And maybe the dark gear helped me a little bit.”

Said Bednar: “I'm going to say that color helps for sure. There's a good chance that that puck was in, but the thing is, you got to be able to see it in, right? And you need the overhead cam to do that, and it's pretty hard to see it in if it's in his glove, right? So unless his whole glove crosses and comes in. So I was pretty confident that it wasn't going to count, just because you have to have definitive proof that it crossed the line. And I just think it's very hard to get that, especially with a dark glove, dark puck.”

The Mammoth signed goalie Colten McIntyre to an amateur tryout agreement Tuesday to serve as Vanecek's backup. Goalie Karel Vejmelka was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. McIntyre, who is from Park City, became the first Utah native to suit up for the Mammoth in an NHL game.

“I don't know exactly when it happened,” Tourigny said of the injury. “I heard about it this morning, but we thought, and he thought, it could be fine, but that was not the case.

“[Doctors] will figure it out, but he seems to be positive about it. I didn't have in depth conversation, so I don't know [the extent].”

NOTES: Girard has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past six games. ... Colorado tied the NHL record for the second-fewest games to 60 points in a season (also 36 games by the Boston Bruins in 2022-23, San Jose Sharks in 2008-09, and Philadelphia Flyers in 1979-80). The 1929-30 Bruins (35 games) required the fewest. … The Avalanche’s 61 points are the most accrued by the holiday break in NHL history (since the NHL’s first Christmas break in 1972-73). ... Mammoth defenseman Sean Durzi had a five-game point streak end (five points; one goal, four assists).