Wedgewood sharp for Colorado in Stanley Cup playoffs
DENVER — Logan O’Connor scored for the first time in a year, Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots in his first Stanley Cup playoffs start and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 1 on Sunday.
O’Connor’s third-period tally was his first since Game 4 of a playoff series against Dallas on April 26. He missed most of this season with a hip injury. Artturi Lehkonen had a second-period goal for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche.
“Super happy to get it out of the way,” said O’Connor, who underwent hip surgery in early June. “For us, our game translates well to the playoffs. It’s a lot of simplicity and muck it up and just wear teams down. It was nice to get that one out of the way and finish the job off.”
Wedgewood got the nod in net over Mackenzie Blackwood after leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage. Wedgewood made four career playoff appearances in relief before Sunday’s start.
At 33 years, 248 days old, Wedgewood became the third-oldest goaltender in league history to pick up a win in his first career playoff start, according to NHL stats.
“Obviously, a long career to get to this point,” Wedgwood cracked.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Denver.
Canadiens win in OT
TAMPA, Fla. — Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday night.
Slafkovsky fired a slap shot from the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side for the hat trick.




