Watching Mackenzie Blackwood become the first rookie goalie in Devils franchise history to post back-to-back shutout victories over the holiday weekend at "The Rock," my first thought was, “Isn’t this what Cory Schneider looked like when he was on his ‘A’ game?”
Blackwood, 22, seems to prefer playing deep in his net, and he goes down a little early like Schneider, but with few holes and an innate ability to make the athletic, reflexive saves when needed to rob opponents from finishing glorious scoring chances.
The Devils leaned on their young goaltender to defeat Carolina 2-0 on Saturday, and to beat Vancouver 4-0 on Monday, sparking hope that this team isn’t out of it just yet. It's just like they used to do in Schneider’s glory days a few years ago. In six games (four starts), Blackwood is 3-1 with a 1.25 goals against average and an ungodly .963 save percentage.
Well, it turns out my comparison was not quite accurate, according to Glenn “Chico” Resch, the Devils’ radio analyst on WFAN and Radio.com. Resch believes Blackwood has the tools to take what was good in Schneider’s game (before it fell to pieces—he’s winless in his last 19 regular season starts since December 27, 2017) and push it further.
“This guy is 6 foot 4, 225 (lbs),” Resch said of Blackwood in an interview on Saturday. “Two-hundred twenty-five pounds! So he can really push. But if you watch him, he can also get outside the crease. He doesn’t just say, ‘I’m going to be playing deep.’ The biggest thing is, nothing has gone through him yet. I know it’s only his third game, but pucks aren’t going through his five-hole, through his body and his hips. He’s just making everything be shot on the outside of him and he hasn’t made a mistake yet.”
Blackwood wasn’t even supposed to be here this season. He was slated for backup duties for the Devils’ AHL affiliate in Binghamton after a shaky 2017-18 season that saw him get sent further down to Adirondack of the ECHL for five games plus the playoffs. Veteran Eddie Lack, who made four appearances for New Jersey last season, was re-signed in the summer as injury insurance in case anything happened to Devils starter Keith Kinkaid or Schneider.
Well, the injury insurance got injured. Lack, who had been shelved due to a torn labrum in his left hip, was finally declared out for the season on Monday.
When Schneider was placed on injured reserve with an abdominal strain two weeks ago and Kinkaid continued to struggle keeping pucks out of the Devils’ net, Blackwood was thrown into the fire as the starter in Columbus on December 20. He has stopped 147 of 151 shots since, including 102 of 104 during the Devils’ current three-game winning streak, their longest since opening the season with four consecutive victories.
“I think the biggest thing is he’s had to pay the price,” Resch said. “You can’t teach experience, you can only earn experience. He had some tough times in the minor leagues. He had to learn some things on and off the ice. He’s done that. I think he’s ready to take the next step and play in the NHL.”
Blackwood, who was a second-round draft pick in 2015, has looked amazingly composed between the pipes. Resch likes that he has been “very controlled” in his lateral movement. “He hasn’t pushed past the post or been out of position,” Resch said.
This new development is a holiday blessing for a team that was mired in the Eastern Conference cellar, in large part due to their abominable goaltending, before moving up over the weekend. Still, it has the potential to accelerate some uncomfortable conversations amongst the Devils’ management team that I alluded to in a previous post.
Schneider has been undergoing off-ice workouts, which means, barring a setback, his return to active duty could be just weeks away, forcing the Devils to make a move.
However, should Blackwood continue giving his team a chance to win every time he plays, those conversations should be brief. Like when Kinkaid supplanted Schneider as the full-time starter in the second half of last season, this is a no-brainer.
Devils coach John Hynes has not addressed the future, but his comment after Monday’s victory was telling.
“A goaltender is like a point guard, a quarterback—they’ve got to earn the trust of the team,” Hynes said. “And when you get in the net, and you make saves, and when there’s breakdowns and you come up big for your team, as Blackwood has, you win the team. That in itself embroils confidence in the guys that are going to be in front of you, and that’s a real important aspect of goaltending.”
All of Blackwood’s wins have come with star left wing Taylor Hall in street clothes, which implies that he, and his teammates, had less room for error than normal. That the Devils rose above all the uncertainty makes this (short) story more remarkable.
Hall went on injured reserve on Tuesday with an undisclosed lower body injury but is eligible to be activated at any time, per the Devils. He did not fly to Dallas in advance of Wednesday’s start of a four-game road trip.
I would expect that the Devils will ride their hot goaltender. If they indeed caught lightning in a bottle, there’s no sense giving that up. It may be their last chance to save their season.