After a difficult season last year that was hampered by injury almost from start to finish, Mackenzie Blackwood's frustration was apparent when he went down again on November 3 after a strong start to his campaign.
"For the first time since my previous injury, I was feeling really good. Moving well, seeing the puck well. Getting my game in order," Blackwood said.
After being off the ice for about a month, Blackwood returned to practice with his teammates and now over the past week, he's been practicing without limitations.
"Mackenzie's been full go now and had a couple really good practices. Plan is to get him to Utica to play a couple games, get him into game form and then we go from there," noted Devils head coach Lindy Ruff.
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Blackwood said he's starting to feel like himself again.
"I feel pretty good. Last week was good on the ice, getting back to practice, getting the reps I need. Knee's feeling good. Game's coming back good. It's been a good week," he began. "Over the last week, it's been a slow roll and ramp-up and the last three to five days I've had full practices. Knee's been good. Just getting game sharp and breaking off some of that month-long rust."
Blackwood said there was no doubt he was injured when he went down on November 3 against the Oilers.
"You could just feel it right away. Luckily, it wasn't too bad of an injury. Just took a little time to heal up nice and strong," he said, adding that this injury and the recovery is a lot more clear cut than last year's heel setback.
"This one doesn't linger. The last one was so weird. It was kind of a fluke how that even happened and the lingering effects I had from it. This one, once it's done it's done. I had that injury a long time ago in junior and you'd never know it even happened. Unfortunate timing, smack in the middle of me coming into my game."
The injury occurred in the middle of the Devils' team-record 13-game winning streak and at the start of what ended up becoming an NHL -record 13-1-0 November. Blackwood's been on the sidelines for a lot of it but he's been happy for the success of his teammates.
"We're part of a team so you've got to take the I out of it. I want to play every game I can, so that's tough. But I'm happy for the team and the guys who have gone through a tough couple of years. It's great to see."
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Blackwood Close to Returning | INJURY REPORT - New Jersey Devils
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