Preview: The Avs host West-leading Vancouver Canucks
Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images
Can the Avs beat Vancouver on the second of a back-to-back?
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche have sputtered out of the break with two regulation victories in their last seven games. I want to see more from Mikko Rantanen as we get closer to the playoffs. The Moose has been more than sufficient this season, but I've seen him play frustrated more this season than ever, and that seems to be working against him. He's puck-handling too much when he should pass, passing when he should shoot, and taking untimely and unnecessary penalties in the offensive end. I am confident that Mikko will straighten these things out.
We've seen plenty from Jonathan Drouin, especially considering the cost of his services. At just a $850K cap hit, Drouin has produced 32 points so far this season, the most he's had since scoring his career-high (53) in the 2018-19 season with Montreal. He has 26 games to match his career high.
What a move by MacKinnon to Drouin to Toews! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/FdS6raf7Qs— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) February 19, 2024
Tonight will also offer another installment of Cale Makar vs. Quinn Hughes. The two defenders have long since been compared, but Quinn has the statistic nod this year with a whopping 56 assists and 68 points. Makar's 60 is certainly more than respectable, but we all know that Makar has been 100% healthy for a very long time if at all, this season.
Projected Lineup
Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko RantanenArturri Lehkonen — Ross Colton — Miles WoodJoel Kiviranta — Fredrik Olofsson — Zach PariseAndrew Cogliano — Ryan Johansen — Kurtis MacDermid
Devon Toews — Cale MakarSam Girard — Josh MansonJack Johnson — Bowen Byram
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks are coming off a loss in one of the most bizarre regular season games the NHL has seen this season. In a game where three different players registered a hat-trick, Vancouver fell to the Minnesota Wild by a score of 10-7. That looks more like a football score than a hockey one, but it sheds light on how wild the game was.
MILLSY HATTY IN MINNY pic.twitter.com/Td7iWEu5YO— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 19, 2024
I'd expect the response to last night's contest to be a more focused defensive effort for the Canucks, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see them lose their legs even earlier than most do in Denver.
Can Vancouver stake its claim as the best in the west and most promising Stanley Cup hopeful with a victory over the Avalanche? Or will Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche show their championship pedigree?
Projected Lineup
Elias Petterson — Elias Lindholm — Nils HoglanderPius Suter — J.T. Miller — Brock BoeserIlya Mikheyev — Theodor Blueger — Conor GarlandPhillip Di Giuseppe — Nils Aman — Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes — Filip HronekIan Cole — Tyler MyersNikita Zadorov — Noah Juulsen
Goaltenders
With DeSmith starting last night's contest against Minnesota, the Canucks will go with Thatcher Demko between the pipes. Demko is the usual starter, with Vancouver seemingly prioritizing the Avs matchup over the game against the Wild. Going with DeSmith last night was the right decision until the goals started pouring in. With their back-to-back situation, it was a tough decision to pull DeSmith, who gave up eight, since Vancouver wanted to avoid icing Demko.
Why haven’t they pulled DeSmith #Canucks pic.twitter.com/sWyFjCBLJa— Tocchet’s cheekbones (@BluelineBardown) February 19, 2024
Colorado will go with their best as well, I'd presume, putting Alexandar Georgiev in the net for his 47th game played. If you have been paying attention, G's SV% is ticking up a bit, and his GAA is also improving. He's trending back toward his career averages while only giving the start to whatever backup nine times. That's a lot of stretching.
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