Good & Bad: Back-to-Back Shutouts for Blackwood, Avalanche Defeat Lifeless Flyers

DENVER — Shutouts aren’t supposed to be easy in the NHL. That’s why they’re often celebrated as the best performance of any particular game.

But Mackenzie Blackwood is making it easy to shutout teams, and the Philadelphia Flyers are making it easy to get shutout.

Un Sunday, Colorado won 2-0 over Erik Johnson and the Flyers at Ball Arena, earning a second straight blanking off the back of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood. Philadelphia, on the other hand, hasn’t scored a goal in three games.

Blackwood made 24 saves.

“I don’t think we’ve given up very many high-danger chances in the last couple of games,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “I think we’ve done a nice job defending and when we have a breakdown, [Blackwood] has been there.”

Samuel Girard got the scoring started almost halfway through the first period. Colorado needed four minutes to get its first shot in the second but quickly took over after finally testing Samuel Ersson.

Girard took advantage of a 3-on-2 breakout following a Josh Manson turnover earlier in the play and wired it past the goalie to make it 1-0. The Avs took complete control of the period from then on, outshooting the Flyers 17-8 and adding another tally before the break

This time it was Nathan MacKinnon breaking through on the power play for the first time in 44 games. MacKinnon also used his wrist shot to beat the goalie from an angle after a great PP shift for the entire top unit.

The Avs eventually drew another power play late and carried that into the third. They continued to have great looks and chances to build on the lead but couldn’t quite break through.

From then on, Blackwood was their most dangerous player. Even though the Avs didn’t give up a lot of dangerous opportunities, they still needed their goalie to step up with a few solid saves to preserve the shutout.

“I try and play the same way day in and day out, sometimes they get better chances and sometimes we lock her down,” Blackwood said. “Over these last two games, we’ve done a tremendous job in the D zone, just playing the right way.”

Good: Blackwood Shuts the Door Again

The Avalanche played so well and the power play shined so bright on Friday that it was easy to forget Blackwood held the fort down at the other end with his first shutout since being acquired. He only faced 19 shots but it came off a five-game stretch of at least three or more goals against.

I almost made the same mistake again, especially given how well the PP looked for a second straight game.

But against the Flyers, Blackwood deserves his flowers. This is his second straight shutout — a feat he’s accomplishing for the first time in his career.

Blackwood only faced 24 shots, but he was rock solid. Philadelphia had nine shots before Colorado got its first and Blackwood stopped every single one. And in the third period, he made three excellent saves to keep Philly off the board.

Bad: Flat Start, Flat First Period

Remember when the second line with Jonathan Drouin, Casey Mittelstadt, and Artturi Lehkonen had that dominating performance against Dallas a few weeks back only to come out the next game and be a complete nonfactor? It felt like the type of game Mittelstadt and his wingers could build off of only to be a one-off.

That’s the vibe I got when the Avalanche came out completely flat to start the game. Two nights ago, they blitzed the St. Louis Blues early and scored four goals off 21 first-period shots. That was something we hadn’t seen for most of the season and was vintage Avs hockey. It, too, felt like the type of start they could build from and return to making it a habit.

But instead, things went completely the other way. Zero shots for almost 13 minutes in the first period. They ended with just six and weren’t a threat offensively at all.

Things didn’t get much better early in the second either. They went four minutes before getting a shot to start the middle frame. The offense finally dominated the rest of the way. But the start was a major concern.

“It’s just not dangerous, not on our toes. It’s not to our identity,” Bednar said of the slow start. “It’s what we talked about after the first and then credit to the guys, they corrected it in the second period. Because I thought we got much more dangerous.”