COLORADO AVALANCHE (34-18-4) VS VANCOUVER CANUCKS (37-14-6)
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The Avalanche are set to play their second of three matches with the Canucks this Tuesday. Vancouver plays the second half of a back-to-back after its loss to Minnesota yesterday. They are 18-9-4 on the road this season. Colorado is 9-6-1 in their last 16 contests and has posted a record of 21-5-0 at home.
Latest Results:
February 18, 2024 COL: 4 ARI: 3
February 19, 2024 MIN: 10 VAN: 7
CAPTURING THE COYOTES
On Sunday, Colorado secured a victory over the Coyotes, 4-3. After one win and two overtime losses in the first three matchups this season, the teams concluded their season-series with a 2-0-2 record in favor of the Avalanche. Ross Colton, Jack Johnson, and Nathan MacKinnon all found the back of the net, and after an overturned goal for both teams in the third period, Devon Toews netted the game-winning goal to secure Colorado’s victory.
AVS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
MacKinnon extended his season-opening home point streak on Sunday to 26 games. He passed Bobby Orr (25 GP in 1974-75) for the second longest in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (40 GP in 1988-89).
Toews netted the game-winning goal on Sunday, marking the 10th of his career. This places him on par with Jonathan Drouin for the seventh-highest number of goals scored on the team this season (10).
Johnson contributed a goal and an assist against Arizona. This marked his third goal and multi-point game of the 2023-24 season.
Chris Wagner made his season debut in the NHL for the 2023-24 season in the game against Arizona, logging 6:19 minutes of ice time.
HISTORY
The Avalanche/Nordiques hold an all-time record of 80-67-15-11 against the Canucks. On home ice, the Avs boast a 41-32-8-5 tally against them. In its most recent 10 encounters with Vancouver, Colorado has posted a 6-4-0 clip. Colorado picked up the victory in their first matchup this season, winning 5-2 on November 22.
WILD IN MINNESOTA
The Canucks fell to the Wild yesterday in the highest scoring game of the season, 10-7. Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and J.T. Miller each scored a hat trick in the contest, marking the first game to feature three hat tricks since Nov. 8, 1992 (Luc Robitaille, Mike Donnelly & Jari Kurri with the Los Angeles Kings). The Wild became the fourth fastest team to score six goals in one game (5:45). Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each tallied six points, becoming the first pair of teammates to record six points in a game since Gretzky (2-4–6) and Tomas Sandstrom (0-6–6).
STATS TO KNOW
Cale Makar has accumulated 12 points (3g/9a) in seven games against the Canucks in his career. In his first game against Vancouver on November 16, 2019, he tallied four assists, the first ever four-point game of his NHL career.
MacKinnon has registered 24 points (8g/16a) over his last 14 matchups with the Canucks.
Mikko Rantenen has tallied 26 points (13g/13a) across 16 career games against Vancouver, nine of them featuring multi-point performances.
Colton has at least one point in every game he has played against the Canucks (1g/4a) in his career with Colorado and Tampa Bay.
In their most recent game on Nov. 16, nine different Avalanche players found the scoresheet, and four picked up a multi-point game.
VANCOUVER VICTORIES
Quinn Hughes leads all blueliners in points this campaign at 68 (12g/56a). He is ranked fourth in the NHL for assists.
The defenseman enters tonight looking to pass his career high in points at 68 (12g/54a) from the 2021-22 season after tying it on Monday.
Pettersson and Miller are ranked among league leaders in points this season, Miller is tied for fifth at 74 (24g/46a), and Pettersson at seventh with 73 (28g/44a).
Thatcher Demko paces the circuit in wins with 30 and is ranked seventh among all netminders in the NHL for goals-against average at 2.45.
NUMBERS GAME
90
MacKinnon surpassed 90 points (33g/58a) in his 56th game in 2023-24. That is the fewest games required in Avalanche history to get to the 90-point benchmark. In Nordiques history, only Peter Stastny (54GP) and Michel Goulet (55GP) did it in fewer games to begin a season.
16
Sunday was the Avalanche’s 16th comeback win of 2023-24. They now share a record for the fourth-most in the NHL.
18
Colton has tallied 18 assists this season, this is a career-high following 17 in the 2021-22 season. He enters tonight with a three-game point streak.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“(This) was a much better effort, probably better than any game we played on the road trip. We are just trying to get back to our game, consistently playing our game in our structure. Both teams were a little undisciplined. The challenges are what they are. That slows the game down and can take you out of the ebbs and flows a little bit more. It’s part of the game. You have to stay in the moment. I think we did a decent job of that.
- Colorado Avalanche Defenseman Devon Toews on Sunday’s matchup against Arizona
