When Arizona Coyotes and Seattle Kraken met last Saturday, little did anyone know that goalie Scott Wedgewood would be setting a record. To be clear, he wasn’t even scheduled to play since he had just been picked up on waivers a couple of days prior. Head coach Andre Tourigny wanted him to at least get to practice with the team, so he started Karel Vejmelka. Well, that didn’t work out too well as Vejmelka surrendered two quick goals just 59 seconds into the game. Enter Scott Wedgewood.
Scott Wedgewood Set a Record Which Will Never Be Broken
First of all, the history behind Wedgewood’s record is pertinent here. On October 30, 2017 he was on the Coyotes roster and started the game in net. The 2017-18 Arizona Coyotes had started the season in exactly the same fashion as the current season going 0-10-1. Wedgewood stopped 28 of 31 shots headed his way. The game went into overtime before Alex Goligoski scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime. Scott Wedgewood got the win and ended the horrid losing streak at 11 games. His statistics for 2017-18 weren’t that impressive. Just a 5-9-4 record with a .893 save percentage and a 3.45 goals-against-average.
On February 21, 2018, the Coyotes dealt Wedgewood along with forward Tobias Rieder to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goalie Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper was unimpressive in the 10 games he played in that first year in Arizona. But over the next three seasons he sparkled in between the pipes for the Yotes. He collected a 55-48-15 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.43 GAA. Arizona definitely won that trade.
Wait, it Gets More Interesting…
So, not only did Wedgewood duplicate his feat of ending an 11-game losing skid by the Coyotes in his return back to Arizona, but there are other bizarre coincidences too. By winning the game Saturday Wedgewood helped Tourigny gain his first NHL victory behind the bench. Guess what? He did the exact same thing back in 2017 when Rick Tocchet won his first NHL game as a head coach!
Buckle up, there’s more. The coach of the Philadelphia Flyers back in 2017 was Dave Hakstol. And, who do you think was behind the Kraken bench on Saturday night? Yep, Dave Hakstol. Strange, huh? Very strange.
The odds of these circumstances happening again are astronomical. That’s why this freaky record will stand forever.
Wedgewood when I mentioned this to him: “I don’t wish it upon anybody.“ https://t.co/IPbUDUyJiN
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) November 7, 2021
Just Consider This
The way the game Saturday night started out, it looked as if the hapless Coyotes would set a new franchise record for futility by losing 12 straight games. The Coyotes had only scored four goals just once all season, and they hadn’t tallied more than one goal in seven of their past eight games. It certainly appeared that they were going to set that franchise record and perhaps challenge the NHL record of 15 games without a win.
Then, something magical happened. The team scored five goals in one game. Lawson Crouse caught on fire and scored two goals and the eventual game winner after Seattle had tied it with just 1:13 remaining. Crouse’s goal with just 65 ticks of the clock remaining completed the magical comeback and restored Scott Wedgewood’s name into the record books… that is if such a record is even kept.
When The Coyotes Season Has Had Little To Cheer About, This Helped
It was a thoroughly entertaining game. Comebacks are always exciting and let’s face it, if your team has lost 11 straight, expectations are low…really low. To have the team rally back is a good sign. And, while their goal of gaining the worst record to have the chance to draft a generational player is still intact, they still aren’t a very good team. They seem to have heart and that can only go so far when you’re trying to win in the NHL. It takes talent and some luck. Scott Wedgewood helped get this team out of the doldrums for at least one game.
Then, reality set in… it always does.
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