Mackenzie Blackwood has put the Avalanche’s loss to Toronto behind him and is ready to bounce back against the Dallas Stars.
Head coach Jared Bednar criticized some players for making “mental mistakes” during the 6-3 loss, but Blackwood was not held fully responsible.
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“He needs to give us a save. Needs to give us a save at some point. I can’t blame him for any of the goals, none,” Bednar said after the 6-3 loss. “But if you’re giving up four shots in a period and three goals, you’d like him to make a save in some of those. I’m sure he feels the same way.”
The Avalanche’s mistakes led to Grade A chances for talented Maple Leafs shooters. Could Blackwood have prevented some of the goals? Probably. And now he knows what to do better the next time he is in those situations.
“Those are hard goals, obviously. But as a goalie, you want to be able to come up with some of them. Yeah, they’re dangerous chances, but I can do a better job of being more aware of where guys are on the backside and in dangerous areas,” Blackwood said. “One thing to give myself a little bit more success would be just having better peripheral awareness of where the danger is — when guys get hung up against the boards, or they have their backs to the middle of the ice. Taking scans to see where dangerous players are hanging out or seeing how plays develop. So, just not getting so locked in on the puck carrier.”
Blackwood ready for redemption
The 29-year-old’s observations are one thing, but putting them to use is another. He is prepared to get right back at it against the Stars.
“It’s nice to be able to go again, and learn from those things that you did wrong. See — okay, well, I was a little bit locked in on puck carriers,” Blackwood said. “I didn’t really have good awareness of where the high danger was on the other side or low danger. So it’s nice to be able to go out there and try and work on that again the next night.”
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The native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, missed the start of last season and struggled at times to find his game. However, it is a new season, and that is how Bednar is approaching his evaluation.
“I’m trying to reset the clock with him and start fresh. We’ll see how he handles tomorrow (Tuesday). Every day on the ice he’s been exceptional, and so he has a game where, as a team, we need him to make a play,” Bednar said. “It’s often about a guy making a play, whether it’s Nate (MacKinnon) on the offensive side of it or anyone else, or someone making a big play on the defensive side of it. And getting a big save in a difficult situation is also part of that.”
Blackwood is dedicated to improving his game
The Avs are five games in, and Blackwood has started four of them. He carries the two losses but learned from both of them. No dwelling — he is dialing in what needs improvement and going from there.
“It’s a league where you want to win every night, but at the same time, it’s a journey. (It’s) still early in the year, and I want to trend (up). So I guess a blessing in disguise to see the things that you’re not doing great early on, so you can go to practice and fix them.”
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