"'I think I'm doing the right thing'," Devils Goaltending Development coach Scott Clemmensen remembers him expressing with a degree of doubt that night.
Blackwood had been run into in the waning moments of the first period with such force Clemmensen thought anyone other than a goaltender of his size and strength of Blackwood would have had a broken leg from the collision. Fortuitously Clemmensen was in the arena, there watching the young goaltender. He watched Blackwood skate off the ice and met him in the no-frills locker room. It was empty, Clemmensen recalled, other than Mackenzie and a small monitor with the game on it.
"We're sitting there, his season's over […] I tell him, 'Listen, you know, the results might vary, but the process has to remain the same.'"
Fast forward three years later, Blackwood has put pen to paper on a brand-new three-year contract, fresh off his entry-level deal and his first 70 NHL starts. A remarkable development from that moment with the ice on his knee in an ECHL locker room. It's a moment that is still etched in his memory.
"Yeah, I remember that. Like it was yesterday, honestly," Blackwood said, "I was, I was playing in the East Coast League, and I just hurt my knee. And I was saying, 'Oh, crap, like, what's going to happen here."
Within months, Blackwood was sitting in a different locker room altogether, his number 29 jersey hanging over a new stall, in an NHL locker room. It must have felt quite surreal.
"You know, fast forward, three years down the line, and here we are," Blackwood said, fresh off of signing a three-year deal, "So, you know, [I'm] just thankful I've had good people around me to help guide me in the right direction and good coaches and teammates. So, you know, I've been fortunate enough to have good people around me the whole time. I think that's really helped me out."
On December 17th, 2018, he was called up to the NHL for the first time, shot into the spotlight.
His first NHL appearance came a day later, in relief of Keith Kinkaid, playing the final 20 minutes of the game against Toronto. Two days later, it was his first NHL start, in a game on the road in Columbus. He faced 38 shots and made 36 saves that night in a 2-1 loss. He didn't play again until after the holiday break. What happened next no one could have predicted. A first NHL win after making 40 saves against the Bruins on December 27th, just ten days (and even less so, considering the holiday break) from his callup, and then a string of three consecutive wins heading into the New Year. From his first win, he went on a 5-1-0 run during his starts. It wouldn't be smooth sailing the rest of the way, but the season proved pivotal and one where he would carve out a permanent spot on the team.
