Blackwood gets 2nd straight shutout, Avalanche defeat Flyers

DENVER -- Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves for his second straight shutout, and the Colorado Avalanche scored twice in the second period to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 at Ball Arena on Sunday.

The 28-year-old goalie, who was acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 9, stopped all 19 shots he faced in a 5-0 win against the St. Louis Blues on Friday.

“I feel pretty similar every game. So, sometimes the results are there and sometimes they're not. But I try and play the same way day in and day out,” Blackwood said. “Sometimes they get better chances and sometimes we lock her down. It's just the way hockey goes. But I think over these last two games we've done a tremendous job in the [defensive] zone, just playing the right way.”

Nathan MacKinnon and Samuel Girard scored, and Jonathan Drouin had two assists for the Avalanche (31-21-2), who have won three of their past four games.

“We're just out there playing hockey [in the first period], like we're not playing to win. We're just out there kind of seeing how it goes,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It's just not dangerous, not on our toes. It's not to our identity, which is what we talked about after the first, and then credit to the guys, they corrected it. Corrected it in the second period, because I thought we got much more dangerous.”

Samuel Ersson, who will represent Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, made 30 saves for the Flyers (23-25-6), who have been shut out in three straight games. They have not scored a goal in 180:15.

“Struggling scoring,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “I don't think we're developing as much as we've had a couple of weeks ago. Had some chances tonight. We just haven't put the puck in the net. We've had, prior to this game, we've had some chances. Didn't score. We're just going to keep working at it.”

Girard gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 8:33 of the second period when he took a drop pass from Casey Mittelstadt on a 3-on-2 rush and scored with a wrist shot at the left hash marks. The goal came moments after Philadelphia shot wide on a 3-on-1.

“I feel like today I was a little better at trying to find a shooting lane and just tried to put a puck on net,” Girard said. “That's something that I need to be better at personally, just trying to put more pucks on net.”

MacKinnon, who will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 17:28. He beat Ersson glove side with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot for his 20th goal and League-leading 80th point of the season.

“I think he likes to pass the puck. He likes to hit the open guy. I think he can do more of what he did tonight, for sure,” Bednar said. “I think sometimes when they don't come to him, and he gets into those spots, he has the ability to snap it home.”

NOTES: MacKinnon’s power-play goal was his first since Oct. 28, a span of 44 games. … Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood did not dress for the game and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who will represent Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off, left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury. Tortorella didn’t have an update on him postgame. … Jacob Gaucher made his NHL debut for the Flyers.