Has Mackenzie Blackwood regained the Avalanche starting gig?

The Colorado Avalanche dealt a huge blow to the Minnesota Wild in their second round series on Monday night, taking a 5-2 victory on the road in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

After Scott Wedgewood started the postseason with six straight wins in net for the Avalanche, a loss in Game 3 prompted Jared Bednar to turn the crease over to MacKenzie Blackwood, who stopped 17 of 19 shots in a game where the Avs decisively controlled the puck throughout the night.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Blackwood’s performance in his first taste of action in this playoff run.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Minnesota Wild have been pushed to the brink of elimination by the Colorado Avalanche, what I would call a decisive victory last night for the Avs, a 5-2 final. It was you know tight until the third period and then Colorado grabs the lead on a Parker Kelly winner. Where do we want to start you want to start goaltending because MacKenzie Blackwood? He only faced 19 shots, but he only gave up the two goals, Hutts. What did you make of the Avs’ decision to go back to Blackwood, and is it fair to say that after that performance, it’s now his crease?

Carter Hutton: Yeah, you know, Thunder Bay boy, so I’m a little biased… I think this was the opportunity to get him back, in right? Scott Wedgwood has been so goo. He’s been a giant difference maker, arguably a guy that was left out of the Vezina talks because of maybe games played, because of his role, but let’s be serious here, MacKenzie Blackwood has a much higher ceiling. And the chances of Colorado trying to win a cup, I truly believe, lie on Mackenzie Blackwood’s shoulders. So after the pull in Game 3, you have a chance to get him in there and he plays well, and the other thing with MacKenzie that I will say is he’s traditionally a goalie when he’s busier, he’s better. He’s a guy that when it gets up to 35-40 shots and he’s in the game, he can really steal hockey games. So for him to come into a playoff game and not be overly busy but be rock solid in that game I think is very important for this building forward… Now you have a little bit of a grace in that it’s 3-1 where if you start him at home and it doesn’t go well, you have a rested Scott Wedgewood coming back for Game 6 and a potential Game 7. So right now it does feel like this is a transition period where they found their opportunity to get him in and try to get him going, in my personal opinion, and he was good last night when he needed to be.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…