Avalanche Visit the Winless Flames on Night Two of a Back-to-Back: Wedgewood Gets the Net in Calgary

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026

The Colorado Avalanche will be looking for a quick rebound when they visit the Calgary Flames on Thursday — and they’ll be looking for it on tired legs. Less than 24 hours after outshooting the Jets 34-19 and losing 3-2 in Winnipeg on Kyle Connor’s goal with about a minute left, the 2-1 Avalanche close out a two-day, two-game road trip against the only team in the NHL without a point. The Flames are 0-3, they’ve been outscored 16-3, and they spent Wednesday calling up rookies and changing goalies. On paper, this is a mismatch. On the second night of a back-to-back, paper doesn’t always matter.

02 A Loss That Stung in Winnipeg

Wednesday’s 3-2 loss was the kind that sticks with a team. The Avalanche opened the season by outscoring their first two opponents 14-5, and for long stretches in Winnipeg they looked like the better team again: 17 shots to Winnipeg’s 6 in the first period, 34-19 overall, chance after chance. And they lost on Winnipeg’s second — and final — shot of the third period, when Mark Scheifele stripped the puck, carried it the length of the ice and fed Kyle Connor for the winner with about a minute left. Jaden Schwartz had a goal and an assist for Colorado; the big line of MacKinnon, Makar and Necas was held scoreless; and Stuart Skinner stopped 32 of 34 for the Jets.

“We had looks,” Schwartz said, via Reuters. “Their goalie made some big saves. There’s pucks around the net there, but it was a tight checking game.” Head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t handing out moral victories: “After battling back from 2-1 to make it 2-2, you’ve got to find a way to salvage at least a point, take it to overtime and see what happens,” he said, via Reuters. He was particularly unhappy with the net-front coverage on the deflections and the partial odd-man rush that decided it. Fair. When you outshoot a team nearly two-to-one and lose, the details are the whole story.

03 Wedgewood Gets the Net

The back-to-back means a goalie change, and it’s a notable one: Scott Wedgewood is expected to start and see his first action of the season. Mackenzie Blackwood made his third consecutive start Wednesday in Winnipeg, stopping 16 shots, and with the schedule this compressed early, there was never much doubt Colorado would turn to its backup on night two. Wedgewood’s job is simple and thankless in equal measure: be steady behind a team playing its second game in two nights, against an opponent with nothing to lose.

This is the classic backup-goalie spot, and it cuts both ways. A fresh goaltender can settle a tired team — or a tired team can hang its fresh goaltender out to dry. The Avalanche’s structure was mostly fine in Winnipeg; the finishing and the net-front details were not. Against Calgary, the margin for those details gets wider. The Flames have scored exactly one goal in each of their three games.

04 Calgary Is in Full Crisis Mode

The Flames were expected to be near the bottom of the standings again. Nobody expected this. Three games, three losses, zero points — the only team in the league without one — and a 16-3 goal differential that tells you the losses haven’t been close. Sunday’s 6-1 road loss in Seattle was the low point, and head coach Ryan Huska didn’t sugarcoat it: “We need people to be better,” he said, via Reuters. “Everybody should feel uneasy. We’re not sitting where we want to be sitting.”

The roster churn has already started. Struggling forward Connor Zary, a 2020 first-round pick, and defenseman Brayden Pachal were sent to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers after clearing waivers. Up come forwards Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna, who skated on the fourth line with Adam Klapka in Wednesday’s practice. Suniev, a 2023 third-rounder, scored three goals in two preseason games and has one assist in seven career NHL games. Castagna is the more interesting story: the 21-year-old Toronto native, acquired from the Utah Mammoth in the MacKenzie Weegar deal, led Cornell in scoring last season with 15 goals and 19 assists for 34 points in 34 games, made the All-ECAC First Team and was named the conference’s best defensive forward, per Sportsnet. He scored twice in his first two pro games with the Wranglers, and Thursday could be his NHL debut. “I’m excited,” he said, via Reuters. “I’m just trying to bring the best I can, because you don’t get these chances very often.”

In net, Dustin Wolf has given up six goals in each of his two starts, so the Flames are turning to Devin Cooley, who gets the confirmed start against Colorado. New goalie, two new forwards, a coach demanding urgency — this is what a team looks like when it decides the season can’t be allowed to slip away in week two.

05 The Mismatch — and Why It Might Not Matter

Here’s the number that makes this look easy: Colorado is 14-1-3 against the Flames since the start of the 2019-20 season. The Avalanche have owned this matchup for the better part of a decade, and they’re bringing the deeper roster, the better goaltending situation and the healthier lineup into a building where the home team is in open crisis.

And here’s why it might not be: back-to-backs are the great equalizer, Calgary is throwing new energy into the lineup, and desperate teams in October play like it’s April. The Avalanche need to do the professional thing — start on time, don’t give Cooley a night he’ll remember, get MacKinnon and Makar back on the scoresheet — and get out of town with two points. For the bigger Thursday picture, last night’s late finals have the full Winnipeg story, and today’s Ticket card has Colorado on the moneyline as one of its four Super Ticker legs — the logic being that even on a back-to-back, the gap between these two teams right now is a canyon.

Later tonight, the Maple Leafs visit the Golden Knights in Vegas at 10 p.m. ET — but first, the Avalanche get a chance to prove Wednesday was a blip and not a pattern. Against this Calgary team, anything less than two points would be the bigger story.

Avalanche (2-1) at Flames (0-3) — 9 p.m. ET (7 p.m. MT), Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary. ESPN+. Jets 3, Avalanche 2: Colorado outshot Winnipeg 34-19 (17-6 in 1st); Connor GWG with ~1:00 left on Jets’ 2nd shot of 3rd; Schwartz G+A; MacKinnon/Makar/Necas scoreless. Reuters (Field Level Media), Mile High Sticking, Sportsnet, FlamesNation.