The Mackenzie Blackwood era starts perfectly for Avalanche

If the Colorado Avalanche were hoping to see an immediate return on their investment in new goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, they certainly got it tonight. Blackwood was excellent in Colorado’s 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in a game the Avs were outplayed for much of it but turned away because Blackwood rose to the occasion.

The final buzzer showed 37 saves on 39 shots for Blackwood, who didn’t allow a goal until 6:57 remained in the third period. The score was 3-0 at the time and the Avs skaters had gotten their act together just enough to put Blackwood in line for a well-deserved win.

Despite a late push from the Preds, the Avs ultimately did get Blackwood that win (or did Blackwood get it for the Avs?). Two empty-net goals did a little stat padding and removed any of the white-knuckle element that happens late in one-goal games.

Let’s talk about how it happened.

Mackenzie Blackwood steals the show (and two points)

Through 30 games, the conversation around the Avalanche was about how often they had outplayed an opposing team but lost because the goaltending didn’t hold up. Very rarely did we have the reverse conversation about the Avs skaters getting worked but the goaltending keeping the Avs into the game.

Tonight, Colorado’s skaters struggled to make significant headway despite playing against a Predators lineup decimated by injury. As the Preds pushed, especially in the first period, they couldn’t solve the big guy in net.

Blackwood showed why he had become such a coveted player among goalie-needy teams and why the Avs being willing to meet San Jose’s asking price to secure his services could be a landscape-altering move in the Western Conference.

While the Avs did a good job of limiting the high-danger chances, they struggled to possess the pucks for extended stretches and Blackwood was there as the eraser to all of the defensive-zone miscues.

If there was a game Colorado’s rivals did not want to see, it was one just like this; a game that would give to the beleaguered Avalanche skaters that they had a guy in net they could lean on when they were struggling.

It was a shame when the Avalanche defense could not get it together late in the third period and Steven Stamkos ended up with a wide-open net to end the shutout bid, but I suppose a near-40-save shutout in his Avalanche debut would have been too good to be true.

As it is, Blackwood and Colorado will still happily take the two points, a successful debut if there ever was one. If he can give them more .949 save percentage games, I think the Avs are going to win a lot in the coming months.

Avalanche top line took over once again

It took time, but late in the second period with the Avs leading 1-0, an aggressive Mikko Rantanen forecheck led to Nathan MacKinnon making the game 2-0. MacKinnon then assisted on Artturi Lehkonen’s snipe in the third period that made it 3-0. MacKinnon and Lehkonen later added empty-net goals, both assisted by Rantanen.

It was a familiar story for the Avalanche. Their other three lines played a role while MacKinnon & Co. did the heavy lifting on the score sheet.

The line overall wasn’t incredible tonight in its process. At 5v5, the MacKinnon line was outshot 12-10 in 14:19 together, but they had a 9-8 advantage in scoring chances and 4-2 in high-danger chances. They weren’t dominating the Predators, but when it came time to take advantage of opportunities, they showed why they are one of the best combinations in the world.

MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Lehkonen all had standout individual moments along the way and their ability to beat Juuse Saros is the second reason (behind Blackwood) that Colorado got the win tonight.

I’ll get into a bit more in tomorrow’s Studs & Duds, but MacKinnon made an incredible individual effort to stay onside for Lehkonen’s goal. I was worried it was off upon live viewing but when Nashville chose not to challenge it, it signaled that MacKinnon’s effort was not in vain. Details win games.

Ross Colton keeps scoring goals

The game was still tied at 0-0 about halfway through the second period when Casey Mittelstadt made a great play behind Saros to outwork the Nashville defender and he eventually got the space to make a brilliant pass to Colton, who one-timed it into the net for a 1-0 Avalanche lead.

It was Colton’s 10th goal of the season in just his 15th game. Colton scored 17 last year in his first year in Colorado and his career-high came back in his first full season with Tampa Bay in 2021-22 when he scored 22 goals.

He’s obviously on a pace to obliterate all of those numbers, but his success has come on the wing this season after playing center last season. While the Avs are playing wing-turned-center Parker Kelly at 3C and don’t currently have a real 4C, Colton’s success along the wall has been at such a level that it would be hard to move him back to center even when Jonathan Drouin eventually gets healthy.

In that world, the Avs would have two clear-cut centers (MacKinnon and Mittelstadt) and five wings worthy of top-six minutes (Rantanen, Lehkonen, Colton, Drouin, and Val Nichushkin). This is obviously tomorrow’s problem, but Colorado is loving the chemistry Colton has found alongside both MacKinnon and Mittelstadt.

He has played with swagger and intensity that he didn’t always bring last season. I don’t know what the right decision is, but Colton and Nichushkin carrying a secondary goal-scoring load is changing the way this Avalanche offense operates.