10 Observations: Mackenzie Blackwood Is a Shootout Dud (+)

The Avalanche’s six-game winning streak ended following a complete letdown of a shootout against the Minnesota Wild.

The final score was 2-1. Neither Nathan MacKinnon nor Martin Necas gave you much to be excited about on their opportunities. And at the other end, Mackenzie Blackwood looked even more uninspiring.

In the words of Jared Bednar, shootouts are a coin flip. But for his goalie, it’s not quite 50-50. More on that in my in-depth breakdown of Monday’s loss to the Wild.

10 Observations

1. The shootout loss to Minnesota ended an 11-game winning streak for the Avalanche with Valeri Nichushkin in the lineup.

2. I haven’t done this in a while, but it’s time to do a breakdown of the Avs’ record with and without Nichushkin in the lineup.

Since the 2021-22 season (when Nichushkin broke out as a top-six winger).

• With Nichushkin: 138-42-17 (0.744 points percentage — or 122 points per 82 GP)
• Without Nichushkin: 58-50-7 (0.535 points percentage — or 88 points per 82 GP)

In the 2024-25 season:

• With Nichushkin: 20-7-1
• Without Nichushkin: 19-17-2

Since Mackenzie Blackwood was acquired from San Jose:

• With Nichushkin: 12-1-1
• Without Nichushkin: 10-9-2

If he can stay physically healthy and, more importantly, be available to the Avs during the playoffs, he’ll be a problem for other teams.

The last two postseason series Nichushkin started and finished were the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and the 2024 first round against the Winnipeg Jets. He was unequivocally the best player in both. He dominated against Tampa Bay in 2022, and last year, he scored seven goals in the five-game series vs the Vezina Trophy winner.

3. Do you eventually entertain the idea of putting in Scott Wedewood for shootouts? I’m curious if Blackwood would be fine with this. He’s been open about how much he dislikes them.

4. It’s worse than you think. Blackwood hasn’t stopped any of the five shooters he’s faced in two shootouts with Colorado. If you include the first couple of months with San Jose, he’s 0-4 in shootouts and has three saves on 13 attempts. That’s good for a .231 save percentage. The league average this year is .657.

5. Marc Moser shared a statistic after the second period that the Avs have hit a league-most 97 posts or crossbars this season. That includes the power-play one-timer from Brock Nelson that rang off the pipe. Nelsonn also hit the post just seconds into his debut shift with the Avs on Saturday.

I tried to do some digging to see where this stat is kept track of but was unsuccessful. I knew it felt like a lot this season.

6. I know I shouted him out last game, too, but Joel Kiviranta is going to get paid this offseason. Especially if the Avs go on a run. He’s the prototypical maximum-effort forechecking bottom-six winger that coaches easily fall in love with. I’ve been beyond impressed with his game this year. Tonight’s goal extended his career-best goal-scoring streak to four games. He’s got 15 goals as a depth forward making league minimum.

7. Last game, Nelson won 11-of-15 faceoffs. Against the Wild, Jack Drury won 10-of-12. Options. This team finally has them.

8. I do wish MacKinnon was able to win the faceoff that began overtime. It would’ve spared us from Minnesota skating around and doing nothing for two minutes.

9. Filip Gustavsson must’ve read my Observations piece following their visit to Ball Arena last week. I called him out for having an atrocious 1-7-1 record against Colorado in his career. This time around, Gustavsson made 27 saves, and for the first time in his career, he surrendered less than two goals against the Avalanche.

10. Sam Malinski is playing his best hockey of the season as of late. I’m especially liking the pairing with him and Samuel Girard.