Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar is known as a calm, cool and collected individual.
You will rarely see him overly emotional or reactive.
On Thursday night, Bednar did not hold anything back after the Avs’ overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres.
“After this presser, I’m sure I will get a call from the league,” Bednar said. “But I don’t care. That wasn’t a difficult call tonight.”
Bednar’s frustration stems from the Sabres’ fourth goal of the game. Zach Benson finished a wraparound to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead early in the third period.
Benson collided with Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood before the goal. Parker Kelly pushed Benson into Wedgewood, negating goaltender interference. But Bednar was upset with the extent of the collision.
“The referee said it wasn’t because we put their guy into Scott [Wedgewood],” Bednar said. “I said I don’t give a shit.”
Bednar made the point that if a skater were down on the ice in the shooting lane, the officials typically blow the play dead. But since it was a goaltender, the refs allowed the play to go on.
Zach Benson falls onto the back of Scott Wedgewood’s leg, play continues after Wedgewood laid hurt, he scores, and chaos erupts 🫨 pic.twitter.com/dQcjU1S7yv
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 3, 2025
“As soon as the puck squirts to the corner, they got to blow it dead,” Bednar said. “They do it all of the time for regular players because of player safety. The rule would state that we have to touch it. But they don’t follow that rule, they never follow that rule.”
My take
The rule states the injured player’s team has to touch it, except in an instance of serious injury. There is an argument to be made that Wedgewood was already seriously injured.
Even worse than that, Wedgewood was in a position where he could have been even more seriously injured if a hard shot hit him in a vulnerable position.
As Bednar stated, what would have happened if the puck had gone up to the point and one of the Sabres’ defensemen had been able to step up and fire a slapshot in the direction of Wedgewood? That turns out to be a very dangerous play.
It is up to the discretion of the official. And they have to deal with these sorts of calls at least once a game. Their main job is to protect the players.
The officials have to quickly make a decision about what is the most safe and provides the most fairness to the players. If the puck was immediately put in the back of the net while Wedgewood was down, it would have made more sense to allow the goal.
Because the officials had ample time to blow the play dead, they should have stopped the play.
