Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Falters in Game 7
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Blackwood stopped 15 of 18 shots in Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Stars in Game 7. The fourth goal was an empty-netter.
The Avalanche went ahead 2-0 early in the third period, but Blackwood couldn't make the lead last. It wasn't all his fault -- two of the three goals he allowed came on Dallas power plays, including Wyatt Johnston's game-winner with 3:56 left in the contest. Blackwood wasn't at his best in a tough first-round matchup, going 3-4 with a 2.71 GAA and an .892 save percentage over seven games. He signed a five-year extension with the Avalanche in December, so he'll be the team's primary netminder heading into 2025-26.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Tending twine in Dallas
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Blackwood will defend the road net against the Stars on Saturday in Game 7, per Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports.
Blackwood is coming off a 22-save effort in Thursday's 7-4 win over Dallas in Game 6. He has a 2.65 GAA and an .899 save percentage through six appearances this postseason. Dallas is tied for 11th in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 2.83 goals per game.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Extends series with win
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Blackwood stopped 22 of 26 shots in Thursday's 7-4 win over the Stars in Game 6.
Blackwood gave up all four goals in the second period, but the Avalanche replied with four of their own in the third. This win allowed the series to go the distance, and there's no doubt Blackwood will be in goal for Game 7 on Saturday. He's gone 3-3 with 16 goals allowed over the first six playoff contests.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Between pipes Thursday
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Blackwood will guard the cage at home against the Stars in Game 6 on Thursday, Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reports.
Blackwood will be back in the crease after getting the hook in Game 5. In that shortened outing, the 28-year-old backstop gave up five goals on 18 shots (.722 save percentage). In his last eight outings, the Thunder Bay native is sporting a 2-6-0 record to go with a 3.02 GAA -- so it's a little surprising that the Avs aren't a least giving Scott Wedgewood a look.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Gets hook in Game 5
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Blackwood gave up five goals on 18 shots Monday before being replaced by Scott Wedgewood to begin the third period of the Avalanche's 6-2 loss to the Stars in Game 5 of their first-round series.
After shutting out Dallas in Game 4, the 28-year-old netminder crashed back to earth in Game 5, starting with a Wyatt Johnston tally just nine seconds into the game that banked in off Blackwood on a shot from below the red line -- setting a new Stars franchise record for the quickest goal to begin a playoff contest in the process. Despite the stumble, Blackwood sports a 2.38 GAA and a .909 save percentage through five outings this postseason, and he'll likely be back between the pipes for Game 6 on Thursday as the Avs look to avoid elimination.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Starting in Dallas
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Blackwood will guard the road goal against the Stars on Monday in Game 5, per Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now.
Blackwood stopped 23 shots in Saturday's 4-0 win over Dallas to earn his first NHL playoff shutout. He has a 2-2 record with a 1.60 GAA and a league-leading .939 save percentage this postseason. Dallas sits seventh in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 28.5 shots per game.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Earns shutout in Game 4 win
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Blackwood posted a 23-save shutout in Saturday's 4-0 win over the Stars in Game 4.
The Avalanche played a superb game, making Blackwood's job fairly easy. It took him just four playoff appearances to earn his first shutout in postseason play. The 28-year-old has given up seven goals on 114 shots over four games in the first round, so he's arguably unlucky to be 2-2 in those contests, though both losses have come past regulation time. Blackwood will undoubtedly get the nod again for a pivotal Game 5 in Dallas on Monday.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Slated to start Saturday
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Blackwood is expected to start Saturday's home matchup against Dallas in Game 4, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports.
Blackwood has lost his last two outings in overtime but stopped 61 of 67 shots. He has a 1-2 record with a 2.07 GAA and a .923 save percentage through three games this postseason. Dallas ranks third in the playoffs with 30.3 shots per game.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Loses in overtime again
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Blackwood stopped 26 of 28 shots in Wednesday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Stars in Game 3.
Blackwood put in a good effort, but Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were able to get the better of him to put the Stars ahead 2-1 in the series. Blackwood has allowed seven goals on 91 shots, so he's played well and just hasn't gotten the results to go his way in the last two contests. The Avalanche trust the 28-year-old to handle a starting role, so expect him back between the pipes for Saturday's Game 4 at home.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: In goal for Game 3
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Blackwood will tend the twine at home versus the Stars in Game 3 on Wednesday.
Blackwood stopped 35 of 39 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 2, which allowed the Stars to tie the first-round series at 1-1. The 28-year-old Blackwood has handled a starting role for the Avalanche when healthy, and he'll have a chance to give them the upper hand again with the series shifting to home ice for this contest and Saturday's Game 4.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Tending twine in Game 2
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Blackwood will defend the road cage Monday against the Stars in Game 2, according to Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine.
Blackwood was solid in his first career playoff appearance Saturday in Game 1, turning aside 23 of 24 shots en route to a 5-1 win. The Stars will presumably lay it all on the line Monday to avoid a 2-0 series deficit ahead of Game 3 in Colorado on Wednesday, but the absences of Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson due to knee injuries may be too much to overcome against a deep Avalanche squad.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Third straight loss
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Blackwood made 27 saves in a 5-4 loss to the Kings on Saturday.
Blackwood has lost his last three games and four of his past five outings. However, this one wasn't really on him. The Avs sat a lot of guys, including Nathan MacKinnon (undisclosed), Cale Makar (rest) and Devon Toews (rest), to prep for the postseason, so the game turned into a bit of a shinny match. Blackwood himself may get rested soon -- he's heading into his first NHL playoffs, and the Avs expect to go a long way. He has a 22-12-3 record in 36 starts with the Avs since being acquired from San Jose on Dec. 9, and his 2.33 GAA and .913 save percentage are the best of his career.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Set to start Saturday
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Blackwood is expected to start on the road against the Kings on Saturday.
Blackwood has a 28-20-6 record, 2.50 GAA and .913 save percentage in 55 outings between San Jose and Colorado in 2024-25. He'll try to get back into the win column after losing his past two appearances while allowing seven goals on 50 shots (.860 save percentage). Los Angeles ranks 16th in goals per game with 2.97.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Loses to Canucks
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Blackwood stopped 26 of 29 shots in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Canucks. The fourth goal was an empty-netter.
Blackwood put in a decent effort, but the Avalanche's offense was drastically less effective without Nathan MacKinnon (undisclosed). The 28-year-old Blackwood has allowed 12 goals while going 1-3-0 over his last four games. He's now 28-20-6 on the year with a 2.50 GAA and a .913 save percentage. The Avalanche wrap up their regular season with a road back-to-back this weekend, so expect Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood to split the next two games, which are Saturday in Los Angeles and Sunday in Anaheim.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Expected to start against Vancouver
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Blackwood is expected to defend the home crease against the Canucks on Thursday, Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette reports.
Blackwood has been inconsistent over his last three starts, posting a 1-2-0 record, 3.08 GAA and .885 save percentage. He's made three starts against Vancouver this year, going 0-3-0 with a 2.42 GAA and .915 save percentage.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Shaky early in loss
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Blackwood stopped 17 of 21 shots in Saturday's 5-4 loss to the Blues. The fifth goal was an empty-netter.
All four goals on Blackwood's ledger were scored in the first half of the contest. Two of them came on St. Louis power plays, so this wasn't exclusively Blackwood's failing, and a Robert Thomas empty-netter ended up being the decisive goal after a late flurry of scoring. Blackwood has allowed four goals in three of his last 10 outings, going 6-3-1 with 25 goals allowed in that span as he continues to play well in a starting role. He's 28-19-6 with a 2.49 GAA and a .913 save percentage over 54 appearances between the Avalanche and the Sharks this season. The 28-year-old netminder could be called on to start at home in Tuesday's heavyweight showdown against the Golden Knights.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Starting in St. Louis
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Blackwood will guard the road goal against the Blues on Saturday, per Lou Korac of NHL.com.
Blackwood is coming off a 27-save effort in Thursday's 7-3 win over Columbus. Since being acquired from San Jose on Dec. 9, he has a 22-9-3 record with three shutouts, a 2.17 GAA and a .918 save percentage in 34 appearances for Colorado. St. Louis sits 13th in the league with 3.01 goals per game in 2024-25, and the team is riding an 11-game winning streak.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Cruises to win Thursday
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Blackwood made 27 saves in Thursday's 7-3 win over the Blue Jackets.
The Avs actually fell behind 3-2 just before the eight-minute mark of the second period, but Blackwood shut the door the rest of the way while his offense took over. The 28-year-old netminder sports a 6-2-1 record since the beginning of March with a 2.31 GAA and .911 save percentage, but with Colorado unlikely to improve its playoff seeding, Blackwood could get a couple extra days off over the team's final five games of the regular season.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Expected to face Columbus
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Blackwood is set to start on the road against Columbus on Thursday, per Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers.
Blackwood has gone 2-1-0 across his past three starts while saving 68 of 72 shots. He's 27-18-6 with a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage in 52 outings between San Jose and Colorado in 2024-25. The Blue Jackets have won three of their past four games while generating 4.75 goals per game over that stretch.
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Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood: Takes tough loss Saturday
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Blackwood made 25 saves in Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Blues.
The 28-year-old netminder played well, but Jordan Binnington was just a little bit better in the other crease. Blackwood has been stingy in general in March, going 5-2-1 over eight starts with a 2.23 GAA and .912 save percentage as the Avs tick closer to locking up a playoff spot.
