Blackwood is new in net for playoff-experienced Avalanche and seeks a 2-0 series lead over Stars

DALLAS (AP) — Mackenzie Blackwood is already fitting right in with these Colorado Avalanche in their eighth consecutive postseason, and a roster filled with playoff experience that includes 10 players who were part of their Stanley Cup title three years ago.

Even though the 28-year-old goalie has now played in all of one game in the NHL playoffs.

“When you have a guy like that back there, that gives you that confidence. He’s very calm in the net, so you know if you do something or make a mistake, he’s going to be there,” said veteran defenseman Cale Makar, the 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. “Hopefully he can continue to do it, because he’s a huge piece of our team.’’

The Avalanche acquired Blackwood from San Jose in a trade on December 9 and signed him to a new $26.25 million, five-year contract right after Christmas. They now have a 1-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series against the Dallas Stars after he made 23 saves in his postseason debut.

“He’s an amazing goalie. I have a lot of trust in him,” said Nathan MacKinnon, the 2023-24 NHL MVP who had two goals and an assist in the series-opening 5-1 win. “It could have easily been 2-2. … It’s a completely different game with his saves.”

Game 2 is Monday night in Dallas.

This is the eighth postseason series in a row since 2022 that the Stars lost the opener. They still made it to the Western Conference Final each of the past two seasons, and last year did that even after losing the first two games of their opening-round series at home against Vegas.

“Yeah, obviously we don’t want to be in this situation,” Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said. “But we’ve had a lot of experience being down 1-0 in a series, so I think that gives us a positive note, that we know we’re able to come back from it.”

Colorado went ahead to stay Saturday night with the game's first score, when MacKinnon got the assist on a goal by Artturi Lehkonen, who was following up his shot when the puck ricocheted off his left skate into the top corner of the net while falling to the ice after a collision with Mavrik Bourque. That reviewed goal came right after Blackwood stopped four shots in rapid succession at the other end.

“Obviously a great goalie, big goalie,” Johnston said. “All those playoff cliches of, you know, getting to the net, getting pucks there, getting in front of his eyes, getting those second chances in front of the net … just do a better job of that.”

Dallas' only goal came from Roope Hintz on a power play in the third period, when Blackwood was without his stick after it got caught in the side of the net.

Blackwood had played in 252 regular-season games over seven seasons with three different teams, including 37 games for Colorado after being acquired from San Jose. He made his NHL debut in 2018-19, the first of his five seasons with the New Jersey Devils.

While Blackwood called it “pretty special” to finally get into a playoff game, and could feel the extra intensity in the rink, he took the same approach he had for all of his other games in net.

“I mean, you have to go to the same job. I don’t want to change things about my game,” said Blackwood, who was 22-12-3 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .913 save percentage after joining Colorado.

“Enough can’t be said about the saves that he made,” center Charlie Coyle said. “Every time we needed a big save, he was there to keep us tied, keep us ahead. Every step of the way it was, they got a chance, we had a little breakdown, and he shut the door. You need that in playoff time to win these tight games.”

Coyle, another of the eight in-season trades made by Colorado, certainly knows that since he has now made the playoffs in each of his first 13 NHL seasons. He made six postseasons with Minnesota and six more with Boston, which dealt him to the Avs at the March 7 deadline.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) stops a shot in front of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Colorado Avalanche players Brock Nelson (11), Devon Toews (7), and Josh Manson (42) celebrate after Toews' scored during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) skates to the goal during a media timeout during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars left wing Mason Marchment, bottom, misses a shot against Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, top, during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) shoots against Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The discussions have taken place in an ornate Kremlin hall, on the polished marble of St. Peter’s Basilica and in a famously contentious session in the Oval Office of the White House.

What’s emerged so far from the Washington-led effort to end the war in Ukraine suggests a deal that seems likely to be favorable to Russia: President Donald Trump has sharply rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed Kremlin talking points, and indicated Kyiv would have to surrender territory and forego NATO membership. What’s more, he has engaged in a rapprochement with Moscow that was unthinkable months ago.

More recently, Trump has offered mixed signals — social media posts that perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin is stringing him along — and a deal has yet to materialize.

While the optics so far have been in the Kremlin’s favor, no proposals that were put forth have been cemented.

And on Wednesday, Washington and Kyiv signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources that could enable continued military aid to the country under ongoing attacks from Russia.

Zelenskyy said Thursday the deal was the first result of his “truly historic” meeting with Trump at the Vatican before the funeral of Pope Francis.

One gain for the Kremlin is that Washington is talking again to Moscow after years of extremely strained ties following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine — and not just about the war, said Nikolay Petrov, senior research fellow with the New Eurasian Strategies Centre think tank.

Russian officials and state media from the very start of discussions with Trump’s officials sought to underscore that Ukraine was only one item on the vast agenda of the “two superpowers.” Trump and Putin talked in March about Ukraine but also the Middle East, stopping the proliferation of strategic weapons and even organizing hockey games between the countries.

Russia's main state TV channel reported that the meeting between Putin and Trump envoy Steve-Witkoff showed that Moscow and Washington were building “a new structure of the world” together.

In this sense, “Putin already got a part of what he sought” — the optics of Russia as a country that is on par with the U.S., Petrov said.

Trump has said Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, “will stay with Russia,” and outlines of a peace proposal his team reportedly presented to Kyiv last month apparently included allowing Russia to keep control of other occupied Ukrainian territories. Trump, who had a contentious meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, lashed out at him for publicly rejecting the idea of ceding land, and also said that Kyiv was unlikely to ever join NATO.

All of these reflect Moscow’s long-held positions, and Trump’s echoing of them suggested his administration’s vision was aligned with the Kremlin’s.

Trump also seemingly puts more pressure on Kyiv than Moscow in trying to reach a peace deal and appears eager to return to a more normal relationship with Russia and its “big business opportunities," said Sam Greene of King’s College London.

“Is there any part of this that doesn’t look like a win for Russia? No,” Greene adds.

But so far, all of this has remained nothing but rhetoric, with terms of a possible settlement still very much “in the air,” says Sergey Radchenko, a historian and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Moreover, there are still demands by both Russia and Ukraine that would be hard to reconcile in any kind of peace settlement.

Ukraine refuses to cede any land and wants robust security guarantees against future aggression, possibly involving a contingent of peacekeepers -– something a handful of European nations have been discussing and Russia publicly rejects as a nonstarter.

Russia, in turn, demands that it holds onto the territory it has seized as well as no NATO membership for Ukraine. It also wants Kyiv to “demilitarize,” or significantly reduce its armed force.

Radchenko sees the latter as a major sticking point in peace talks, because a strong, viable army is important for Ukraine to defend itself.

“If there are restrictions on the kinds of weapons Ukraine can receive (from the West) or the size of the army, then it will be very difficult to get them to accept this sort of agreement,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seemingly raised the stakes further this week by saying that international recognition of regions annexed from Ukraine by Russia was “imperative” for a peace deal.

Achieving that remains unclear, given that dozens of countries have decried the annexations as violating international law.

Some analysts believe it is in Putin's interest to prolong the war and keep making gains on the battlefield.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have threatened to wash their hands of the peace effort if there is no progress soon.

Putin, in an apparent gesture of willingness to keep talking, announced this week a 72-hour ceasefire starting May 8 for Russia's Victory Day holiday that marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Zelenskyy dismissed the gesture as a further attempt by Putin at “manipulation” to string along the U.S., saying a ceasefire should begin immediately and last longer.

Greene noted that the Russian ruble and markets have been doing better recently over expectations of a peace deal and U.S. businesses and investors coming back, "and there may be a price to be paid” for pulling out the rug from under that.

The larger question is what happens on the battlefield if the Trump administration withdraws from the peace effort.

“When the Trump administration says they’ll walk away, we don’t know what that means. Does that mean they walk away from negotiations and keep supporting Ukraine?” Greene said.

Greene says that Ukraine probably doesn’t feel confident that the U.S. stepping back from the process means that Washington will keep supporting Kyiv, adding that Russia may not be sure of the Trump administration ending aid, either.

“I think it’s very difficult for the Kremlin to calculate the risks of dragging this out,” he said.

And U.S. Treasury Secretary Sctott Bessent said the mineral deal "signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”

A lot depends on whether Europe can step up and fill any gaps in U.S. aid.

If Trump walks away from the peace effort and still pursues normalizing relations with Russia, lifting sanctions, “this will amount to a major breakthrough” for Putin, but it's not a given, Radchenko says.

That would be an uphill battle for Trump as “there’s a lot of congressional sanctions that are predicated on the war in Ukraine,” Greene notes.

FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier looks out of a shelter on the anti-drone firing position in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)

FILE - Russian soldiers guard a pier where two Ukrainian naval vessels are moored, in Sevastopol, on the Crimean Peninsula, March 5, 2014. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, as President Donald Trump listens, in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, April 26, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - In this combination of file photos, President Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, are seen at the Elysee Palace, Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, and President Vladimir Putin, right, addresses a Technology Forum in Moscow, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, left and center, Pavel Bednyakov, right, File)