Mackenzie Blackwood is quickly becoming must-see TV for the Colorado Avalanche

Sometimes sports are cruel and tonight was one of those nights. With the Colorado Avalanche not playing a high-level game against the New York Rangers, it was largely a function of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood’s stellar play that the Avs were only down 2-1 in the late stages of regulation.

As the Avalanche pulled Blackwood for the extra skater and made it a 6v5 situation, they managed to throw the rest of their poor performance into the trash can and score their league-leading ninth goal with six skaters on the ice.

Artturi Lehkonen tapped home a puck that squeaked through Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin and tied the game with 1:13 left in the third period. New York was that close to the two points.

The Avs eventually won, 3-2, in overtime behind a Devon Toews one-timer that beat Shesterkin through his five hole and caused him to look to the heavens in despair, knowing his team had thrown away two points in the standings.

Let’s talk about how it all unfolded.

Mackenzie Blackwood steals two points

Since arriving in Denver via trade on December 9, Blackwood has made 12 starts for the Avalanche. Tonight’s win moved him to 9-2-1 as an Av and his .938 save percentage actually took a small hit when he stopped “only” 27 of 29 shots, finishing with a .931 save percentage.

In those 12 starts, Blackwood has yet to allow more than two goals against and he is making a strong case for his name to be included in the Vezina Trophy conversation, though certainly not to contend with what Connor Hellebuyck has done in Winnipeg so far.

That doesn’t take away that Blackwood is putting together an excellent body of work in Colorado so far with tonight maybe the masterpiece of the bunch. Colorado’s awful puck management meant Blackwood was faced with multiple breakaways, five by my count, and he only allowed goals on two of them.

They were the only goals Blackwood allowed on the game and he was at his best in overtime when the Avalanche had to kill off a 4v3 try for the Rangers following a silly Mikko Rantanen penalty at the end of his first shift of the extra session.

Blackwood stood tall, which makes sense because he’s always tall, but it was great to see him in the zone and having such a calming effect on the chaotic, disappointing team in front of him. The Avs have not had a goaltender steal many games in the last two years, so this was a bit of a foreign feeling tonight. He was excellent.

Avs offense struggles again

If you go look at the fancystats on the night, you’ll probably feel like this was a solid Avalanche effort. At even strength, the Avs led in:

• Shot attempts (60-36)
• Shots on goal (25-15)
• Scoring chances (29-18)
• High-danger chances (9-8)

Those are all the things you want to lead in, but actually watching the game, it felt like what the movies make being shot in the stomach out to be. An inevitable, painful death as the life slowly drains from your body without the ability to do anything about it.

The Avalanche scored a 5v5 goal early on when Parker Kelly beat Shesterkin clean with a nice shot, but that was it for the rest of the game. Going back six games now, here are the 5v5 goals the Avs have scored:

• 0 vs. Montreal
• 2 vs. Florida
• 1 vs. Chicago
• 5 vs. Minnesota
• 0 vs. Winnipeg
• 1 vs. New York (Rangers)

If you remove the offensive explosion in Minnesota on a terrible night from Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson, that is four 5v5 goals in six games and two where they didn’t score any.

They have quietly built up a goal-scoring problem, which would be something a team can work through if its power play was humming, but Colorado has the fourth-worst power play since December 1, so that isn’t working. The power play actively hurt them tonight, too, giving up a shorthanded goal and getting outshot, 3-1, in the six minutes they had the man advantage. That’s really, really bad.

Does it say something about the Avs that they pulled this out?

This is always the type of game that allows the writer (in this case, me) to tell the story they want to tell.

If you think the Avs aren’t ready for prime time and just aren’t good enough, there’s plenty of evidence to support that.

If you think the Avs are too banged up to get to their A-game consistently, there’s plenty of evidence to support that.

If you think this was just a bad night but the Avs have that kind of grit and character that doesn’t count them out of close games, there’s plenty of evidence to support that.

The Rangers have been surprisingly bad this season, but they are on the upswing. They are not as easy of an out as they were earlier this season. They are finding their game. The Avs made life too easy on them tonight and it still wasn’t enough.

Blackwood was Colorado’s best player and their MVP, but he doesn’t score goals. He needed help. He (just barely) got it, but that’s hockey, baby. The schedule is TOUGH heading into the final weeks before the Four Nations break, starting with this game. They’re 1-0, but they absolutely will need to play much better to stay competitive coming up.

When we talk about competitive, look at Logan O’Connor in overtime. He’s not on the ice because of his finishing ability, but he’s fast and puts in an honest effort. That’s all we saw from him at the end of overtime tonight. He outworked all of the Rangers for the puck and got it to Nathan MacKinnon coming off the bench, who found Toews for the game-winning goal. The play was entirely from O’Connor putting the work in and refusing to give in.

Competitive.