10 Observations: Blackwood Still Can’t Believe He Plays for the Avalanche

DENVER — Mackenzie Blackwood kept referring to his teammates as “they.”

We often see goalies talk about skaters as if they’re not included in the mix, but it almost feels like Blackwood is still marveling at the team he plays for.

“Every night, they’re playing so well, so offensively talented,” Blackwood said of his teammates. “Not every single night it’s going to be the case, but most of the time, if you do your job, they’re going to come out with a win.”

Blackwood made 26 saves in Monday’s 3-1 triumph over Florida, improving to 7-1-1 since joining the Avalanche on Dec. 8.

The goalie is sporting a .938 save percentage and a 1.69 goals-against average in Colorado.

10 Observations

1. In his last game with San Jose, Blackwood faced 54 shots and let in three goals against the Florida Panthers. That was a month ago today. What a difference a month makes, right? He only saw 27 shots against Florida this time around — 14 of which came in the third period with the Panthers trailing for most of it.

1. Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Devon Toews. All three of them hit the post or crossbar in the second period but only one of them ended up in the back of net. It really felt like one of those nights where the Avs were going to get goalie’d.

2. It was of course Toews who scored, firing a shot that hit the crossbar, then it came down and hit the back side of Sergei Bobrovsky and trickled in. Toews added another and has five goals this season and four in four games. He’s really starting to heat up offensively.

I wonder if he can get to 50 points for the fourth straight year. He’d need 30 in the last 41 games to do it.

3. It’s amazing to see Blackwood just consistently put up the numbers that he has. He’s yet to let in more than two goals in any game since being acquired. MacKinnon said earlier in the morning that he’s been the best goalie in the league since the trade. Statistically, MacKinnon is correct.

4. Going back to the low number of shots he saw, Colorado has been playing well defensively as of late. During this four-game homestand, the Avs have given up 22, 21, 23, and 27 shots. Two of those games went to OT.

5. Mikko Rantanen extended his point streak to 14 games. He also leads the league with seven empty-net goals. The record in a season is nine and he’s almost there just halfway through the year.

6. Credit to the Avs. This is the first season where it feels like the opposing team pulling their goalie almost means absolutely nothing. The Avs have done an excellent job of tightening up defensively late in games and scoring empty-net goals to put them away. They often score two of them in one night.

6. Loved Juuso Parssinen using his frame to screen the goalie on the second Toews goal. Those are the types of plays that make a bottom-six forward valuable.

7. Seems like Blackwood and Trent Miner are already good friends. Scott Wedgewood was also in the locker room post-game, without a boot, and the three netminders were having a great time. Chemistry has meant a lot lately.

8. Remember last season when Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov both recorded 100 assists? MacKinnon has 52 at the halfway mark. Can he get to 105?

9. Bednar is no longer hiding how much he was disappointed with the previous goalies that started the season. When asked about the team tightening up defensively, the coach mentioned that they had several strong defensive nights early in the season but “then pucks end up in your net and you’re criticized for it.”

10. Three points during the homestand for Ross Colton after getting the primary assist on the game-winning goal. Would love to see him get back to the guy he was before the injury. Funny enough, that was just his second helper of the season in 24 games.