Chris MacFarland is looking like a genius.
Incredible!
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 shots in his Colorado Avalanche debut, and the Avalanche fended off a late rally from the Nashville Predators for a 5-2 victory Saturday night.
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist. With another solid performance, Mac passed Michel Goulet (946) for third on Colorado’s all-time points 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 on his way to a shutout win. He stopped the first 37 shots he faced until Stamkos came through with 6:57 remaining in regulation. Evangelista added the second goal on a delayed penalty with 4:32 to go, before MacKinnon and Lehkonen followed up with two empty-net goals to close the show.
Nashville has a stacked lineup with a lot of big names, but their struggles continued on Saturday. Furthermore, former Norris Trophy recipient, Roman Josi, was out for the second straight game with a lower-body injury.
The Avalanche struggled to put plays together in the opening 20 minutes, but they came alive in the second period and never relented.
Second Period
Ross Colton scored his 10th goal of the season at 11:32 of the second when 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 defenseman Marc Del Gaizo into a mistake, then found a streaking MacKinnon sprinting toward the net. And the reigning MVP was on target, planting a shot under the crossbar with nearly a minute to go in the period.
Third Period
Colorado continued to fire on all cylinders entering the final period of play. It’s incredible what can happen when the team has competent goaltending. Just 3:30 into the third, MacKinnon stirred up the sauce as he carried the puck through the neutral zone and left it for Lehkonen, who skated in and scorched a shot into the top-right corner of the net to make it a 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 confirmed after Colton slid into the post and knocked the net off its moorings.
But exactly three minutes later, MacKinnon scored into the empty net, and Lehkonen scored with 50 seconds to go for the 5-2 finish.
Takeaways
The offense was electrifying, but Blackwood was clearly the man of the hour. If Blackwood continues to play 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 heading, albeit Nashville hasn’t exactly performed well this season.
Upcoming
The Avalanche head to Canada! Colorado squares off against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, December 16. Puck drop is at 8:30 p.m. local time, so it’s a late one.