10 Observations: Another Night, Another Statement Game From Mackenzie Blackwood

The Avalanche won their third straight game on Tuesday, defeating the Seattle Kraken 5-3 after trailing heading into the third period.

READ MORE: The Aftermath: Strong Third Period Pushes Avalanche Past Kraken

10 Observations

1. What else can be said about Mackenzie Blackwood? For a game where he let in three goals against a team that doesn’t score much, this was up there with one of his best performances of the season. Even Jordan Eberle’s second-period goal came after a huge stop by Blackwood on the first shot.

And of course, there was the play that eventually resulted in a penalty shot. Blackwood is 10-1-1 on the season, and as we all remember, his first game was an overtime loss in San Jose.

2. In that Sharks game, Blackwood surrendered five goals. He then gave up four in Vancouver and three to Buffalo. It was a shaky start.

But as we all remember, that crazy 35-save shutout in Nashville on Nov. 22 was the beginning of his hot streak. Since then, he’s 8-1-0 and has given up just 16 goals in nine games. Five of them were against the Islanders in his one regulation loss.

3. How do you see these stats and not consider him for Team Canada? I’m not even sure if he’s in the running given that we haven’t heard anything. But If you’re telling me three of Darcy Kuemper, Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson,and Scott Wedgewood are better options than him, then I’m not sure I agree with you.

4. Last note on Blackwood: He’s now two-for-two on penalty shots, both of which came in crucial moments during the third period on the road. And this is a guy that struggles in shootouts.

5. Even though an assist on an empty net goal was his only point of the night, this was one of the best games I’ve seen from Gabe Landeskog this season. He was battling, he was hitting everything in sight, and he looked like he was skating better than ever.

He really worked for that assist, and did an excellent job to beat out the icing earlier in that shift. He also had two or three great looks and could’ve easily had a goal.

6. Over the last month, Martin Necas has one goal in 14 games. But he’s also got 19 assists. It’s one of the strangest stat lines I’ve seen. And the most surprising part of it is that he’s third in assists around the league in that stretch.

Nikita Kucherov (21) and Leon Draisaitl (20) have more than him.

7. Seven players in the NHL have at least 30 assists, and three of them play for Colorado. Necas is at 31 now. And MacKinnon and Makar are trailing right behind with 30.

8. I know the underlying numbers were always great, but I wasn’t a fan of the Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin, and Landeskog line early in the season. I’m still a believer that you should swap Nichushkin and Lehkonen to use Nichushkin’s goal-scoring a whole lot more. But it’s hard to argue that both lines are clicking right now.

This most recent stretch of play from the second line has sold me. They’re looking a lot more comfortable together and really feeding off each other.

9. If the Avs are going to make a move for a third-line center, I’d like for them to make one sooner rather than closer to the deadline. Ross Colton isn’t as effective at center, and it’s best to keep Jack Drury at 4C with the guys he’ll be playing with when the playoffs come around.

The problem is, you don’t have many options right now. The most notable on the block is Phillip Danault, but he’s not having a great year and comes with a big cap hit.

I just want to see Colton back on the wing soon. It’s where he’s most effective.

10. It was a forgetful night for Sam Malinski. This was definitely not his best work. After taking two minor penalties against the Kraken, Malinski now has four in his last two games after just two in the first 31 games of the year. Very strange.