Grand Theft Blackwood

Mackenzie Blackwood had the grin of a man who'd just robbed a bank and gotten away with it. And after Wednesday night in Dallas, the Colorado Avalanche goaltender had every reason to smile.

Blackwood stopped 24 of 26 shots in a 3-2 Avalanche win over the Stars at American Airlines Center, delivering the kind of performance that makes you reconsider everything you thought you knew about a guy. He commanded the crease, adjusted when he needed to and came up with spectacular saves when the Avalanche needed them most.

In short, the man was a menace. A well-dressed, chain-wearing, puck-stealing menace.

Rockstar Games has kept us waiting more than a decade for Grand Theft Auto VI. Blackwood needed only a few days to pull off a heist of his own.

The robbery of the night, however, came late in the second period, when Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski apparently decided to take a Sunday drive through his own defensive zone. Perhaps distracted by the scenery, Malinski seemed to forget which team he played for, handing the puck directly to Dallas forward Sam Steel for a golden scoring opportunity.

Can't call it a robbery if the merchandise is handed to you. Finders keepers, right?

Not so fast.

Blackwood had other plans, denying Steel and cleaning up the mess before Dallas could cash in. Malinski may have left the door unlocked, but Blackwood wasn't about to let the Stars walk out with anything.

And just to rub a little salt in the wound of those who have spent the better part of the season questioning him — myself included, though I'd like to think I've done so in a reasonably educated manner — Blackwood got his hands on the Avalanche's victory chain afterward.

With that now-signature grin beaming in the postgame photo, the man looked less like a goaltender and more like the guy your mother warned you about.

Gangster Blackwood had arrived.

Jokes aside, there's a serious point buried somewhere beneath all the stolen property and alleged criminal activity: Blackwood was spectacular in a game that gave him very little room for error.

The Avalanche weren't exactly doing him any favors defensively. They coughed up the puck in their own zone, blew coverage and repeatedly allowed Tyler Seguin to find space in the low slot. Malinski's giveaway was only the most glaring example of a team that made life unnecessarily difficult for its goaltender.

And they were doing it without Cale Makar, who was unavailable as he and his wife prepared to welcome twins.

For a team that has had its share of uncomfortable playoff encounters with Dallas, the Stars hardly needed any extra help. The Avalanche were giving them opportunities anyway.

Blackwood simply refused to let those opportunities become goals.

That's what made Wednesday's performance stand out. It wasn't just the 24 saves or the final score. It was the way he responded when things got messy, when the defense lost its bearings and when Dallas had a chance to make the Avalanche pay for their mistakes.

Those are the moments when a goaltender can either compound the damage or bail his teammates out. Blackwood did the latter, repeatedly.

And it's worth remembering that Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has been saying for more than a year that Blackwood has the potential to be even better than he's shown. Bednar has never seemed particularly interested in making a spectacle of the situation. He's simply maintained that there's another level Blackwood can reach.

Maybe Wednesday was a glimpse of it.

Now, before we start engraving his name on the Vezina Trophy, let's pump the brakes a little. One outstanding performance doesn't erase every inconsistency, and nobody is moving the goalposts here. Blackwood still has to prove he can deliver this kind of performance consistently.

But credit where it's due: He showed up in a difficult situation, made the saves he needed to make and gave his team a chance to win a game that could easily have gone sideways.

So, Mackenzie Blackwood, please accept our apologies.

At least for Wednesday night.

You were spectacular. You made us look foolish, and you did it with a smile that suggested you knew exactly what you were doing.

Gangster Blackwood showed up, showed out and walked away with the chain.

Now comes the hard part: doing it again.

If Blackwood can turn Wednesday's performance into something resembling a habit, the Avalanche will have a whole new problem for opposing teams to worry about. And Bednar? He'll have proven us wrong again.

At this rate, we might need to start budgeting for apology chains of our own.