Mackenzie Blackwood gets real and honest about mindset after not playing

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood played great in a do-or-die Game 4 for the Avs on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, the rest of his teammates didn’t show up in a 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

It completed a shocking sweep of the Avalanche in the Western Conference Final, sending them home much earlier than anticipated or anyone wanted.

And it was a Hail Mary by head coach Jared Bednar to start Blackwood in Game 4 after Scott Wedgewood was in net the first three contests and the majority of the postseason for Colorado.

It almost worked — Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves on 26 shots. Neither Knights goal was his fault as the first came on a breakaway by Mark Stone and then second on a beautiful tip in the third period by Cole Smith. Blackwood made some incredible saves in the second and third to keep the deficit at only 1-0 after Stone struck early.

And after the game, Blackwood was real, raw and honest about his mindset entering Game 4 after not playing since the first period of Game 5 against Minnesota. That was basically two full weeks off for him.

“I mean, it’s freakin’ hard to not play for so long and come into a big game. But I just said, ‘f*** it’ and go play the best I can and give them the best chance I can to win, and just battle,” Mackenzie Blackwood told reporters.

He did indeed battle, unfortunately the Colorado offense was awful. They scored only one goal and that came from captain Gabriel Landeskog with a little more than two minutes to go. The Avalanche went a stretch during the second and third period that spanned nearly 25 minutes with only one shot on goal.

On paper, Mackenzie Blackwood appears to be Colorado’s No. 1 goalie moving forward. He still has four years left on a lucrative contract extension that pays him more than $5 million per season. Wedgewood is entering the final year of his deal that will pay him a little more than $2 million.

The Avalanche rode two goalies as long as they could, but ultimately it’s fair to wonder if maybe a switch to Blackwood should’ve been made after Game 1 or 2 of the Knights series. Colorado looked toast by the time Bednar pulled the trigger.

On the other side of the coin, Blackwood had a worse regular season than Wedgewood. He had a big Game 4 against Minnesota, but was atrocious in the first period of Game 5. Blackwood gave up three goals early before Wedgwood got the net and the Avalanche rallied for a memorable 4-3 OT win.

But in a game and series there was very little to be proud of, Mackenzie Blackwood is one of those guys. It’ll be fascinating to see if he enters training camp next year as the clear No. 1 goalie.

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