INSTANT REACTION: Mackenzie Blackwood’s 35-save shutout gives Avalanche their 8th straight win

Nights like this have not happened much this season for the Colorado Avalanche as they got on the board first but were thoroughly outplayed for much of the rest of the game.

An early Brent Burns goal put the Avs in front but from there, the well-rested Nashville Predators took it to Colorado as they poured on 16 shots on goal in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood stood tall, however, and kept his team in it.

The second period was much of the same as Nashville dominated the puck and put another 11 shots on goal, but Blackwood didn’t give in. The Avalanche offense didn’t score in the middle frame, but it generated some decent pressure and at least showed signs of life.

Colorado found its legs a bit in the third period but couldn’t break through on the scoreboard until the net was empty and they promptly added two goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Drury to give the Avs their eighth straight win, a 3-0 victory over Nashville.

Another fast start for the Avs

For the fifth time this season, the Avalanche got on the board in the first minute of the game as Brent Burns whipped a clearing attempt by a Preds player to the net and Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros didn’t pick it up. Burns’s second goal of the season came just 15 seconds into the contest, tying the fastest goal of the year in the NHL this season.

There wasn’t much to the play as the Avs got the puck in deep, Nashville tried to move it out of the zone and Burns was standing right there and in typical Burns fashion, he didn’t waste any time throwing it towards the net. Saros didn’t seem to react to it at all, and the Avs had a lead.

It seemed like it was going to be the perfect catalyst to get the Avs off and running, but it was just the opposite. Luckily for this guy below, it didn’t much matter.

Mackenzie Blackwood

The Avs have had a little goaltender drama brewing as Scott Wedgewood‘s excellent play to start the year has gotten him the bulk of the starts, even after Mackenzie Blackwood returned to good health around the 10th game of the season. For more on this back and forth, I’d strongly encourage you to stop reading this (for now) and go read Bailey Curtis’s piece on this exact topic.

Okay, now that you’re done reading Bailey’s piece, back to tonight.

Blackwood was Colorado’s best player on the night as he stopped all 35 Nashville shots en route to his first shutout of the season. It was just Blackwood’s fourth start of the year and the first three had some real peaks and valleys, so seeing him dominate from beginning to end was nice. The Avs showed up in the third period to make his job a bit easier, but Nashville generated some real heat in this one.

Blackwood faced a ridiculous 13 high-danger shots tonight. That’s going to be in contention for the most an Avalanche goaltender will see all year and that really underscores what an outstanding performance this was. Not all shutouts are created equally but this is the one goalies dream of when they’re growing up; the kind of shutout where they’re making all kinds of saves, stopping the Grade-A scoring chances flooding in and making the highlights that night.

There’s an uphill battle on Blackwood’s hands to get back into the net most nights (see: Bailey’s piece!), but this was the kind of performance that will make it easier for head coach Jared Bednar to turn to Blackwood again. Tomorrow night is going to be Scott Wedgewood’s game, of course, but Blackwood should get strong consideration for the net on Wednesday night when San Jose visits Denver.

Avs postgame pod