Blackwood Steals One as Avalanche Edge Stars
Iron bites Dallas while Colorado’s finishers cash in; Necas buries and MacKinnon dings metal as the visitors skate out with it.
Two pings changed the night, and Mackenzie Blackwood did the rest. Colorado heard the iron twice — Nathan MacKinnon once, Nazem Kadri once — on looks worth a chunky 1.28 in iron xG, but their goalie turned a road tilt into a theft. Blackwood beat the math with a +0.82 goals saved above expected — stopping more than the quality of shots said he should — while Jake Oettinger came in under the mark.
The sheet says 3-2 Avalanche, yet Dallas carried the shot-attempt share and piled up more tries. The difference was finishing: Martin Necas cashed two on chances that weren’t graded as premium, and Artturi Lehkonen added one. MacKinnon still left fingerprints with two helpers and that post, while Devon Toews and Josh Manson chipped in plays that don’t sparkle on the box but nudged dangerous looks the right way.
For Colorado, this was proof that elite finishing and goaltending can paper over soft spots. For Dallas, the defensive base is fine — they just have to turn their volume into goals.
