MacKenzie Blackwood shouldn’t shoulder blame for poor Avalanche D in loss to Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs stunned the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at Ball Arena. Toronto was coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights after blowing a 3-0 lead.

And just when it looked like the Avalanche were getting ready to blow out the Maple Leafs, the visiting side turned in one heck of a performance. Toronto skated away with an improbable 6-3 win.

But anyone blaming Avalanche netminder MacKenzie Blackwood for the loss should think twice about it. Saturday night’s loss was an all-around failure.

In particular, the Avalanche defense let the Blackwood down more than a couple of times. Let’s take a look.

Avalanche failed to pick up Toronto players

One of the things that the Avalanche didn’t do all night was pick up Toronto players. On more than one occasion, Colorado left a Maple Leaf meandering, and that led to more than one goal.

Easton Cowan made the Avs pay on this play:

The entire play started with William Nylander going solo during a Colorado missed puck possession. As both squads moved up ice, the Avalanche failed to pick up Easton Cowan on the right side. Nylander, who had held the puck the entire time, slid it to defenseman Morgan Rielly who faked out Parker Kelly and opened it up for Cowan to blast a one-timer.

Blackwood, meanwhile, had to slide across, but really had no chance to make the save.

Now, let’s look at Auston Matthews’ power play goal late in the third period:

The play started with the Avalanche leading a shorthanded rush. Josh Manson tried to wheel and deal into the Toronto zone, but 18-year-old rookie Gavin McKenna checked his stick, stripped him of the puck and led a rush back up the other way. Nylander once again made the Avalanche defense look sick by beating both Devon Toews and Fedor Svechkov, and sliding the puck to Matthews.

Here is where Blackwood could have saved the game for Colorado. He was basically going head-to-head with Matthews, and it was the Maple Leafs captain that beat him with a rocket to the glove side.

Blackwood anticipated the pass, got in front of the shot, moved the top of the crease, and still could not react in time to stop the shot. Had Blackwood stopped the puck, the game would have remained 4-3, with Colorado having a chance to tie the game on the late power play.

Instead, the game was 5-3 and pretty much out of reach at that point. You could certainly argue that a true number-one guy would make a critical save when his team needs it the most. And that's precisely what Blackwood didn't do against the Maple Leafs.

Colorado power play let them club down

For all of the defensive shortcomings on Saturday night, the bottom line is that the vaunted Avalanche offense could not paper over their mistakes. In particular, the power play went 0-for-5 on the night, including a prolonged sequence in which Colorado had back-to-back power plays with a brief 5-on-3 advantage.

The Maple Leafs penalty kill did a great job of thwarting any real high-danger chances by Colorado with the man advantage. In fact, the Avalanche power play was overly predictable, with Toronto netminder Sergei Bobrovsky doing well to keep his team in the game.

Even with a late power play in the final minutes of the game, the Avalanche were unable to pull closer.

Toronto, for its part, went 2-for-4 with the man advantage, pretty much setting the difference on Saturday night.

All told, Saturday night’s defeat cannot be solely blamed on one player or another. It was a systemic failure that Jared Bednar must address if the Avalanche are to have a realistic chance at competing for a Stanley Cup this season.

Yes, it’s early. But the season can get away in a hurry.

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