ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota gave the Avalanche a Wedgie.

I see London. I see France. On Saturday night, I watched the Wild give goalie Scott Wedgewood a swift kick in the pants. 

In a 5-1 rout of the Avs that proved the Wild are no joke, Wedgewood lost a grip on his stick on goal in the opening period, lost his composure before the game was 20 minutes old and maybe lost his status as a rock-solid presence that Colorado needs between the pipes.

After Wedgewood surrendered three goals on only a dozen shots before being yanked early in the second period, Avs coach Jared Bednar is stuck with his first serious decision of these NHL playoffs.

Colorado needs 10 more victories to win the Stanley Cup.

But which goalie does Bednar trust to get the next W?

“We’ll have a decision to make,” Bednar said. 

There’s trouble in the Lumber Yard. With Minnesota now given an opportunity to even this best-of-seven on its home ice, which of the Wood brothers gets the starting nod in Game 4? The last place you want a goalie controversy is in pursuit of a championship.

Uncertainty between the pipes can not only mess with the heads of your goalies, but the team’s collective confidence.

“We were going to get their best. (The Wild) came out early and they jumped,” said Wedgewood, who felt the desperation of a Minnesota team that knew going down 3-0 in the series would be messing with the worst kind of hockey history.

“They made two nice plays (in the first period), and we were down early. But we kind of expected it. (Minnesota) made the plays, put the puck behind me and it was the early bench.”  

In defeat, Wedgewood stood in the corner of a Colorado dressing room that didn’t feel shaken, but the Avs were definitely subdued after their six-game playoff winning streak and aura of invincibility were shattered.

The glaring lack of edge to Colorado’s approach is what irked Bednar the most. “That was a determination and competitive loss,” he said, later explaining: “You’re either the hammer or the nail.”

We all know this burgundy and blue wagon, assembled by front-office wizards Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland, is loaded.

In every way, this version of the Avalanche appears to be more talented than the team that went 16-4 in the 2022 playoffs while rolling to a championship.

Check that.

The one way this bandwagon can wind up in the ditch is if the Avalanche goalies fall asleep at the switch.

During the regular season, Wedgewood and Blackwood both shined so often, maybe it blinded us to the fact that they’re both career journeymen who have never dealt with the duress of being a starting goalie in the playoffs.

They are friends. Wood brothers in arms. A happy tag team, paddling in the same direction, no matter who has been in the net.

The tension of the playoffs, however, can strain the strongest of hockey friendships.

Blackwood quietly peeled off his sweater and pads in the locker stall next to his fellow Avalanche goalie. When he talked about coming cold off the bench into the white-hot glare of the Grand Casino Arena where Wild fans were having a howling good time, the loneliness and stress of a forgotten man were unmistakable in Blackwood’s voice.

He got the rust knocked off with a dozen saves on 13 shots. A good thing, eh?

“Doesn’t really matter, I guess,” Blackwood replied. “Whenever you go in, you just do the best you can, and stay as sharp as you can in practice. Just try to keep your game up.” 

Things were going so swimmingly for the Avs in this series that when some intrepid member of the hockey paparazzi snapped a photo on Friday of Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon donning flippers and a scuba mask to do conditioning work in the pool at the team’s hotel in Minnesota, it made Bednar chuckle.

“Spies in our hotel?” said Bednar, amused by the resulting hullabaloo on the internet.

After scoring 14 goals in the opening two games of this best-of-seven series, this matchup against a talented Minnesota team was threatening to become a laugher for the Avalanche.

Well, the funny stuff is over.

For the first time in 2026, this postseason has turned into serious business for the prohibitive favorites to win the championship.

Hoisting the Cup is supposed to require heavy lifting, not to mention some high anxiety.

During the regular season, Wedgewood played 45 games with a sterling 2.02 goals-against average, while Blackwood made 39 appearances, with a 2.51 GAA.

Bednar insisted before the playoffs began he would use both his goalies. After Game 3, the coach said: “I thought Blackwood was good.”

Should we take that as a hint?

Nobody asked me, but I would go back to Wedgewood in Game 4, because it’s too early to start playing musical chairs between the pipes. And panic is never a smart option in the playoffs.

There’s trouble in the Lumber Yard, the kind that can quickly spread anxiety to the entire team.

Which Wood brother does Bednar trust to restore a sense of peace?

It will be nothing less than the most crucial decision of Bednar’s decade on the Colorado bench.