Blackwood makes 35 saves, Avalanche shut out Predators for 8th straight win

NASHVILLE -- Mackenzie Blackwood made 35 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak to eight games with a 3-0 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

It was Blackwood’s first shutout in his fourth start of the season.

“I’m trying and trying and struggling to find my game with limited touches, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Blackwood said. “[Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood] has been playing amazing so he’s earned the right to play. You have to find the chances that you get and take advantage of the opportunities to work on your game.”

Nathan MacKinnon scored his NHL-leading 17th goal for the Avalanche (15-1-5), who have points in 12 straight games (10-0-2) and the fewest regulation losses through 21 games in team history.

“It goes without saying, our first period wasn’t the best by us by any means,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “I thought we looked a little slow, and I thought our execution was off. We were giving up odd-man rushes and scoring chances. That’s pretty uncharacteristic for us. We knew that. It didn’t take anybody to tell us that, but I thought we did a good job in the first intermission of kind of resetting and getting back out there and being more competitive in the second period.”

Juuse Saros made 23 saves for the Predators (6-11-4), who were shut out for the second consecutive game and have lost seven of eight (1-5-2).

The Predators were playing for the first time in six days since the 2025 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

“It’s been pretty much the same thing all year,” Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “I think we play decent games. Like, it’s hard for me to analyze the game. I don’t know. I feel like tonight we played great and still we have zero goals. I don’t know what to say really toward that.”

Brent Burns gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead 15 seconds into the game on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

It was the fifth time this season that Colorado has scored on its first shot of the game but Nashville ended the opening period with a 16-6 edge in shots on goal.

“The first period was horrendous,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We got one good forecheck, one shot on goal that gave us the lead and then we didn’t check anybody. It looked like we were only competitive when we got the puck or when we were chasing down the forecheck. We definitely improved in the second period, got our checking game in order a little bit, but we still never got to where we probably needed to at any point during the game.”

MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal on his only shot of the game to make it 2-0 at 18:25 of the third period on a pass from Brock Nelson. Jack Drury added another empty-net goal at 19:10 of the third period.

Predators defenseman Roman Josi returned to the lineup after missing 12 games because of an upper-body injury. The Nashville captain finished with four shots on goal and eight shot attempts in 19:40 of ice time.

“I felt good,” Josi said. “It was nice to be back. I’ve been skating for a while now, which was good to get my legs going. It was nice to be back. When you’re injured, it’s tough watching from afar.”

NOTES: Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar failed to record a point on the road for the first time this season. … Colorado’s eight-game winning streak is tied with the New Jersey Devils for the longest in the NHL this season. … Burns became the second defenseman in NHL history to score multiple game-winning goals in a season at age 40 or older, following Zdeno Chara (three times). … Burns scored his 44th career game-winning goal and tied Al MacInnis and Denis Potvin for third most by a defenseman in NHL history, behind Ray Bourque (60) and Phil Housley (49).