Blackwood stands tall in Thunder net
GLENS FALLS, N.Y. » Mackenzie Blackwood saw almost as much action in the Thunder net this past weekend as he did during the entire regular season.
The 21-year-old New Jersey Devils draft pick played at Binghamton, in the AHL, before joining Adirondack a few weeks ago, just in time to become eligible for the ECHL’s Kelly Cup playoffs.
During three games in three days -- less than 48 hours -- against the Worcester Railers, Blackwood allowed only two goals to help Adirondack take a 2-1 lead into Wednesday night’s Game 4 at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. Face-off is set for 7 p.m.
“Three games as a goaltender in a row, in less than three full days, is quite a bit,” he said after Sunday’s 3-1 Thunder win at Worcester. “I think we all did a pretty good job as a team, picking and choosing our spots and not coming out completely flat; using every last little bit of energy we had so we can rest and come back on Wednesday.”
Blackwood recorded a 3-0 shutout in Game 1 on Friday in Glens Falls and allowed only one goal on Saturday in Game 2, at Worcester, before getting pulled with time running out, which allowed the Railers to score an empty-netter in their 2-0 win, evening the series at one game apiece.
The Thunder jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Game 3 on Sunday, and withstood a torrid 6-on-5 Worcester rush in the closing minutes to pull out a 3-1 victory as rookie Ryan Schmelzer found the empty net for Adirondack with 12.3 seconds left on the clock.
“It was a good start for us,” Blackwood said. “I mean, yeah, sure it was a close game. It could have gone either way. It was just one goal until the empty-netter. This team (Worcester), they’re going to grind you until the final buzzer.”
So far, Blackwood has been more than equal to the task.
The Thunder Bay, Ont. native was a second round pick of the Devils (42nd overall) in the 2015 NHL En-
try Draft, and played all of last year -- his rookie pro season -- with the Albany Devils, where he was 17-14-3 with an impressive 2.55 goals against average.
He also played in all four of Albany’s Calder Cup playoff contests, which gave him valuable experience heading into this year’s ECHL postseason.
This includes learning how to take care of himself physically, when games are scheduled so close together.
“You take every opportunity to rest that you can,” Blackwood said. “Any time you have some down time you try get a quick nap; try to get as much good food as you can in you; stretching and trying to take care of the body because it’s a big toll to put on yourself.”
He’s expected to shoulder Adirondack’s goaltending duties again Wednesday, and most likely for the rest of this first-round playoff series. Game 5 is set for Saturday in Glens Falls (7:00 p.m.).
If needed, the series would continue with Game 6 on Monday at Worcester, and Game 7 next Wednesday, April 25 in Glens Falls.