‘I Don’t Give A S—, He’s Hurt’: Avalanche Coach Speaks Out On Sabres Scoring On Injured Goalie

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar expressed his frustrations on a goal by the Buffalo Sabres he believed should have been negated in Thursday’s overtime win.

Early in the third period, Buffalo left winger Zach Benson was pushed into Colorado’s goaltender Scott Wedgewood. Benson fell onto Wedgewood’s right leg, and the netminder went down and didn’t get up.

The play continued, and Benson eventually scored to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead. While the Sabres youngster celebrated his goal, Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard chased him in frustration, causing a massive scrum.

Bednar said the referees should have blown the play dead because his goalie was hurt on the play.

“The referee said (the play) wasn’t blown because we put their guy into Scott (Wedgewood). I said ‘I don’t give a s—,'” Bednar said. “For them to just let it go and allow the goal is just insanity to me.”

According to the 2024-25 NHL rulebook, the referee should only blow the play dead if the team of the injured player gets control of the puck. After Wedgewood went down, the Avalanche never gained control of the puck.

However, the rulebook also states that in the case where a player is suffering from a serious injury, the referees or linespersons can stop the play immediately. The officials observed Wedgewood but let play continue.

Later in that presser, Bednar said Wedgewood would have to get evaluated but believes that the goaltender is “going to miss some time.”

Related: With The Wedgewood And Blackwood Trades, Avalanche Have Vaulted Themselves Back Into Contender Status

While this controversial goal gave the Sabres a 4-2 lead in the third, the Avalanche never backed down. With less than three minutes left in the game, Cale Makar scored a slapshot from the point with the net empty to make it a 5-4 game.

Later, Avs right winger Jonathan Drouin tied the game with 6.8 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

To end this dramatic contest, Devon Toews scored the overtime-winner after stripping the puck from Tage Thompson and beating goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on a breakaway within the first minute of the extra frame.

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