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The Avalanche Have Been Waiting for This Version of Mackenzie Blackwood
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- The Avalanche Have Been Waiting for This Version of Mackenzie Blackwood
DENVER —For Mackenzie Blackwood, the expectations in Colorado have never really been a secret.
The Avalanche wanted him to establish himself as their starting goaltender, and this season, he's beginning to look the part.
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Blackwood enters Saturday night's matchup against the Calgary Flames having won four of his last five starts, posting a 2.40 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage over that stretch. More importantly, he's beginning to show the consistency Colorado has been waiting to see.
It hasn't always been that way.
After a difficult outing against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 10, when he surrendered five goals on 22 shots, including three on four shots in the second period, Blackwood has been excellent. That performance has become something of an outlier, as the 29-year-old has responded with some of his best hockey of the season.
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There were signs last season that Blackwood was capable of this kind of play. After undergoing offseason surgery to repair a lower-body injury, he began the season on injured reserve and missed all of training camp and the preseason. When he returned, finding consistency wasn't easy. He struggled at times before beginning to turn things around in November.
Then he made history.
On Nov. 26, 2025, Blackwood became the seventh goaltender in Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to record consecutive shutouts. He joined an exclusive group that included Patrick Roy, Clint Malarchuk, David Aebischer, Pavel Francouz, Darcy Kuemper and Justus Annunen after blanking the Nashville Predators 3-0 and the San Jose Sharks 6-0 in back-to-back games.
It was an impressive stretch, but one that didn't necessarily signal a smooth path forward. Another lower-body injury sidelined Blackwood a month later, and his play continued to fluctuate throughout the season. There were nights when he looked nearly unbeatable and others when he struggled to find his footing.
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Meanwhile, Scott Wedgewood made the most of his opportunities.
When Blackwood was unavailable, Wedgewood stepped in and delivered a remarkable season, finishing 31-6-6 with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. His performance gave Colorado a level of stability in net that was difficult to overlook, particularly with Blackwood still trying to put everything together.
The two goaltenders ultimately shared the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals during the regular season.
Blackwood got another opportunity to show what he could do in the postseason. After struggling in the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, he was given the start in Game 4 with Colorado facing elimination. He stopped 24 of 26 shots, but the Avalanche fell 2-1, ending their season as Vegas advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where it lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games.
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Even through Blackwood's ups and downs, head coach Jared Bednar maintained that his best hockey was still ahead of him.
There was another level to Blackwood's game that Bednar believed he hadn't reached yet. Colorado had seen glimpses of it, but the organization needed to see more than flashes.
That became an expectation heading into this season. Since the start of training camp, Bednar has made it clear that the Avalanche wanted Blackwood to establish himself as the starter and run with the opportunity.
It was a reasonable expectation, but not necessarily an easy one to meet with Wedgewood coming off such a strong season. Wedgewood had established himself as more than a capable backup, and Colorado had two goaltenders coming off a season in which both played significant roles in the team's success.
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Still, there's a reason the Avalanche made the financial commitment they did to Blackwood. At $5.25 million annually, compared to Wedgewood's $2.5 million, Colorado needs Blackwood to be more than just one half of a tandem. They need him to establish himself as the guy they can lean on.
So far, he's doing exactly that.
Bednar acknowledged that Blackwood has been solid throughout the season, pointing to the Toronto game as the one outing where he felt the goaltender could have been better. But he was equally quick to point out how Blackwood responded.
"I think Blackie's been solid all year," he stated Saturday morning at morning skate. "I think he probably should have been better and it could have been better was the Toronto game. We didn't give up a ton of chances, but the ones we did were grade-A's, and they put them in the back of the net, and they were opportunistic, and we weren't good enough in front of him, and then he bounced right back and his next couple starts were outstanding."
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Bednar also acknowledged that the Avalanche will need both goaltenders, particularly with a back-to-back on the schedule on the horizon on 11/2 and 11/3 when Colorado faces the Chicago Blackhawks and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Wedgewood's workload has looked a little different from last season, but the coach remains confident in what he can provide when called upon.
"So I like what he's been doing so far and we've had a pretty, you know, at times pretty easy schedule like right now. And then we got a back-to-back coming, so we need both guys, but he's been handling it great. I think Wedge on the same note is, you know, it's a little bit different form from last year, but he's used to it from his whole career and I expect him to be able to go in and give us a real good game here on the road as well."
For now, Blackwood is doing what Colorado asked of him. The Avalanche have known what he's capable of for some time. They've seen the shutouts, the stretches of brilliance and the performances that made Bednar believe there was another level to his game.
What they've been waiting for is consistency.
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Blackwood is beginning to provide it, and if he can sustain this level of play, Colorado may finally get the kind of separation in its crease that it envisioned when it made him its starting goaltender.
Saturday's matchup against Calgary presents another opportunity to keep building on that.
