DALLAS — Mackenzie Blackwood spent six years in the NHL without the chance to experience playoff hockey.
He was more than ready to make a great first impression.
Blackwood stopped 23 shots in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut, helping the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 victory in Game 1 of its opening-round series Saturday night against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added an assist, and for the second year in a row, the Avs have a 1-0 series lead against the Stars.
“It was pretty special,” Blackwood said. “You know, I was waiting to play in the playoffs for a long time, and it was great to finally get my first one.”
This game was close until the Avs poured in three goals in the final 7:04. And while the visiting team looked stout defensively for long stretches, the Avalanche still needed its goaltender to make several fantastic saves.
After scoring 27 goals in his first 53 games, Artturi Lehkonen couldn’t buy one in the final 16 games of the regular season. He opened the scoring in Game 1 for the Avalanche with one of the oddest goals of his career.
Lehkonen shot the puck from near the top of the left circle. As he darted toward the net after the rebound, he and Mavrik Bourque got tangled up, and Lehkonen’s leg curled one into the top corner as he fell to the ice that would have made Lionel Messi proud.
“Those are playoff goals. Sometimes you gotta play soccer out there and put it top shelf,” Avs center Charlie Coyle said. “Sometimes you get those bounces when you’re doing the right things. And it’s just a testament to the way that (Lehkonen) plays, and what he brings. That’s a huge goal.”
There was an official review, but the goal stood, and the Avalanche led at 9:30 of the second period.
Before the game, Avs coach Jared Bednar said the biggest thing Colorado needed to do differently in this series than last year when Dallas knocked his club out in the second round was get to the inside of the ice in the offensive zone and create some havoc in front Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.
That was certainly some havoc. Devon Toews also made it a 3-1 game with a redirection at the edge of the crease. After a MacKinnon empty-net goal, Coyle added another within about two sticks’ length of the Stars goaltender after a beautiful one-touch pass from Jack Drury.
“You’re not going to score from the perimeter,” Bednar said. “Same thing with our guy. If you want to score goals, you’ve got to get to the interior of the ice and you’ve got to get there repeatedly.
“The amount you get there is not going to be the same as a Tuesday night in November in the regular season. It’s going to be harder. The competitive spirit of your team has to go up, and I thought it was up. We created enough looks to win the hockey game.”
Colorado’s first big chance on the power play was a dud, but Roope Hintz went to the box for bloodying MacKinnon with a high stick behind the Avs’ net late in the second. MacKinnon made this one hurt.
His shot from the left circle deflected off Dallas defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and fluttered past Oettinger to make it a 2-0 lead with 3:22 remaining in the period.
Cale Makar’s assist on MacKinnon’s goal was his 60th in 73 career playoff games. He’s the third-fastest defenseman to 60 playoff assists, behind only Bobby Orr (69) and Al MacInnis (71).
The first big break of the series came less than five minutes in for the Avalanche. Makar drew a pair of tripping penalties 36 seconds apart to give Colorado a lengthy two-man advantage. The Avs generated very little, and the green-clad patrons roared to life after a sleepy opening four minutes for the Stars.
This was the first playoff appearance of Blackwood’s NHL career, and his first save was a big one, turning aside a Hintz offering after the speedy Finn got free during a rush just shy of four minutes in. Some of Blackwood’s best work came during Dallas’ lone power play of the first period, as he turned aside five shots in those two minutes. The Stars had only three shots in the other 18 minutes.
There were several other momentum-shifting saves as well. The only goal Blackwood allowed came when he had lost his stick and a deflection in front of him one-hopped off the ice over his left shoulder.
“He’s an amazing goalie,” MacKinnon said. “I have a lot of trust in him, obviously. He made some huge saves tonight. It could have easily been 2-2 and all of a sudden it’s 5-1. It’s a completely different game with his saves.”
Footnotes: Avs captain Gabe Landeskog participated in the morning skate but did not play in Game 1. He has been practicing with the team since Tuesday after playing in back-to-back AHL games with the Colorado Eagles this past weekend. Those were his first hockey games since June 26, 2022.
Ross Colton left this game early in the third period with a lower-body injury. Bednar said there was no update on Colton’s status afterwards.
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Originally Published: April 19, 2025 at 9:36 PM MDT
