Mackenzie Blackwood loves playing against his former team.
Blackwood made 22 saves and the Colorado Avalanche came to life Wednesday night in a 5-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Ball Arena. Nathan MacKinnon had two goals, and forwards who don’t skate on his line added a couple of insurance tallies in a cathartic win after rough back-to-back losses coming out of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off break.
The Devils selected Blackwood in the second round of the 2015 NHL draft and he played 152 games across five seasons for New Jersey. He made two starts against his former club the San Jose Sharks.
Blackwood was hurt after making 13 saves in 17:34 against the Devils on Feb. 27, 2024. He pitched a 44-save shutout against New Jersey in November before being traded to the Avalanche.
When Jack Hughes broke up Blackwood’s shutout bid at 8:28 of the third period, it ended the goaltender’s streak without a goal allowed against the Devils at 125:59. It also snapped a goalless streak of 168:28 at Ball Arena for Blackwood, after he had posted back-to-back shutouts at home before the 4 Nations break.
MacKinnon gave the Avs a two-goal advantage early in the third period. He buried the rebound of a Martin Necas shot with Colorado on the power play at 2:57. He added another extra-man tally to restore the two-goal lead with 5:46 remaining.
The reigning league MVP batted one out of the air while it was behind Allen. That was his 23rd goal and 90th point of the season.
Necas now has more multi-point games (four) than Mikko Rantanen has points (three) with Carolina since the blockbuster trade, though the ex-Avs forward has had great underlying numbers with the Hurricanes.
Casey Mittelstadt and Logan O’Connor both added much-needed goals to break this one open.
Artturi Lehkonen had the lone goal of the opening period. Necas and MacKinnon combined to win a board battle with three Devils behind the New Jersey net, and then the former fed the puck to Lehkonen in front.
It was Lehkonen’s 24th goal of the season, and MacKinnon’s assist moved him back into sole possession of the NHL scoring lead after Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl drew even with him Tuesday night.
The Avs dominated the first period, collecting twice as many shot attempts (28-14) and 21 of the 29 scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. Among Colorado’s range of scoring issues this season, there have been times when the Avs came away from a dominant stretch of play without as much to show for it as expected.
MacKinnon had a Grade-A chance early in the first, but put the rebound of a Cale Makar shot off goaltender Jake Allen. Devon Toews hit the post late in the period after a crafty pass from Casey Mittelstadt sent him in on a rush.
Much of the second period was not at the same level, but the Avs took control in the final few minutes. Colorado put multiple shots behind Allen, including one from MacKinnon, but that one was swept out of the crease by Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton and another from Jonathan Drouin just missed the left post and Mittelstadt’s stick.
This was Valeri Nichushkin’s first game back after missing the past 21 contests with a lower-body injury. He made an immediate impact. The second line had a strong night, and the first power play he participated in with the top unit led to MacKinnon’s goal.
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