DALLAS — Nathan MacKinnon took a stick to the face, had a part in both of Colorado’s strange goals in the second period and capped his night with an empty-netter for his 50th career playoff goal. And Mackenzie Blackwood backed up the Avalanche in a big way in the goaltender’s first playoff game after 252 regular-season games for three teams over eight seasons.The two goals in the second period put the Avalanche ahead to stay, and Blackwood had 23 saves in a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars in the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night. “I thought it was solid, really solid,” MacKinnon said of the opener of the Avs’ eighth consecutive postseason. “We had a lot of good looks, a lot of attempts. Maybe hit the net a little bit more, but I thought we played a pretty solid two-way game.”MacKinnon scored on a shot that deflected off Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, and knuckled past goalie Jake Oettinger late in the second period. That came during an extended power play, a double minor against the Stars after he took a high stick to the face.“Obviously they’re going to key on him like we do on some of their players,” coach Jared Bednar said of last season’s NHL MVP. “But really strong defensive game from him, and obviously get-up and go on the offensive side, he was making plays all night.”Blackwood stopped four shots in a span of 11 seconds midway through the second period just before MacKinnon assisted on Artturi Lehkonen’s …
