Blackwood’s Quick Exit Jars Avalanche’s Closeout Push

Closeout games are supposed to feel like the last step of a business trip, but this one got messy in a hurry. When a goalie gets pulled after three first-period goals, the ripple effect reaches every corner of the bench, from the defensemen who start squeezing their sticks to the coaches who start burning timeouts in their heads. AP News is tracking a game that suddenly changed tone before it could settle in.