Game Recap: Mackenzie Blackwood makes 38 stops as the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Nashville Predators 5-2

Incredible!

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 shots in his Colorado Avalanche debut, and the Avalanche held off a late rally by the Nashville Predators for a 5-2 victory on Saturday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist. With another solid performance, Mac passed Michel Goulet (946) for third place on Colorado’s all-time scoring list. That’s 13 goals and 50 points so far this season for MacKinnon. Artturi Lehkonen also scored two for the Avalanche.

Steven Stamkos and Luke Evangelista scored for the Predators, and Juuse Saros had 29 saves.

Blackwood, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Monday, appeared en route to a shutout victory. He stopped the first 37 shots he faced until Stamkos came through with 6:57 left in regulation. Evangelista added the second goal on a delayed penalty kick with 4:32 remaining before MacKinnon and Lehkonen followed with two empty-net goals to close the show.

Nashville has a stacked lineup with many big names, but their struggles continued Saturday. Also, former Norris Trophy recipient Roman Josi was out for the second game in a row with a lower body injury.

The Avalanche struggled to string together plays in the first 20 minutes, but they came alive in the second period and never let up.

Second period

Ross Colton scored his 10th goal of the season at 11:32 of the second as Casey Mittelstadt was able to break free after being pinned against the boards and found his man for a beautiful one-timer to break the tie.

And that was the fuel the camel needed. After going on a mini scoreless streak, MacKinnon has now scored in three consecutive games. He found the net late in the second to put Colorado up by two. Mikko Rantanen forechecked defender Marc Del Gaizo for a foul, then found a streaking MacKinnon who sprinted toward the net. And the reigning MVP was on target, planting a shot under the crossbar with nearly a minute left in the period.

Third Period

Colorado continued to fire on all cylinders entering the final period of play. It’s amazing what can happen when the team has competent goaltending. Just 3:30 into the third, MacKinnon stirred up the sauce when he carried the puck through the neutral zone and left it to Lehkonen, who skated in and fired a shot into the top right corner of the net to make it 3-0 game.

But the Predators made it a game late. Stamkos’ goal took the shutout away from Blackwood, and Evangelista made it a 3-2 game when he cut across the slot and launched a backhand at . 15:08. The goal was reviewed but upheld after Colton slid into the post and knocked the net off its moorings.

But exactly three minutes later, MacKinnon scored in the empty net and Lehkonen scored with 50 seconds left to make it 5-2.

Takeaways

The offense was electrifying, but Blackwood was clearly the man of the moment. If Blackwood keeps playing like this, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland will look like a genius. And quite frankly, he is and has a track record of being just that.

Fans should be excited about this win and where this team is headed, even though Nashville hasn’t exactly performed well this season.

Coming

Avalanche goes to Canada! Colorado is lining up against Vancouver Canucks Monday, December 16. Puck drop is at 20.30 local time, so it’s late.