Deen’s Daily: Blackwood Looks Great; ‘Sh*tty Goal’ in Pittsburgh; Husso Finally Wins

Mackenzie Blackwood was great.

Despite being under the weather, a low-energy Blackwood managed to “force it” in his Avalanche debut, making 37 stops to lift Colorado to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators.

The Avs are 5-2-0 in their last seven and head back out on the road for three games. They face the Vancouver Canucks, who also are dealing with a locker room illness, on Monday. They’ll then have two days off before playing the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks on consecutive nights.

You’ve got to imagine Blackwood and Alexandar Georgiev are likely going head-to-head in San Jose on Thursday.

Is Blackwood the answer in goal? It sure looked like it on Saturday. But before the game, I shared my thoughts on the trade and his fit with the team on my podcast, Rinkside with Aarif Deen. The podcast is on the Mile High Sports platform and I record episodes 3-4 times a week. Be sure to subscribe!

Around the NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry was not happy with how the go-ahead goal beat him. He was candid in his postgame interview following Pittsburgh’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Red Wings pulled off an impressive 4-2 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. For goalie Ville Husso, the victory was his first in quite some time.

Boston Hockey Now: The Bruins are in desperate need of scoring and hope a former first-round draft pick waiver claim could help.

New Jersey Hockey Now: The Devils needed a third-period response to get two points against the Chicago Blackhawks. They also needed their coach to ask for more.

San Jose Hockey Now: Georgiev wasn’t in goal but Nikolai Kovalenko managed another assist in the Sharks’ 4-3 loss to Utah Hockey Club.