Game Preview: Avalanche at Canucks

COLORADO AVALANCHE (19-14-3) AT VANCOUVER CANUCKS (16-18-3)
8 PM MT | ROGERS ARENAWATCH:ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
The Colorado Avalanche travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks Thursday for the first of a two-game road trip. Coverage begins at 8 p.m. MT on Altitude at Rogers Arena.

LAST TIME OUT

The Avs look to snap a four-game winless skid after narrowingly falling to the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Monday night. Colorado's top-line forwards all recorded two points, with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each finding the back of the net. Artturi Lehkonen added two assists to record his fifth multi-point game of the season. Darren Helm made his season debut for the Avs after recovering from off-season surgery.
Vancouver suffered a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. Bo Horvat continued his scoring success, netting both goals for the Canucks to push his season total to 28. Luke Schenn skated in his 900th NHL game.

HISTORY

Colorado owns a 78-66-26 all-time mark versus Vancouver, with a 38-34-13 record on the road.
Since the franchise moved to Denver, the Avs hold a 62-45-18 record versus the Canucks.
Thursday's game is the second of three contests between the two teams this season, with the final matchup in Vancouver on Jan. 20 at 8:00 p.m. MT.
The Avs fell to the Canucks 4-3 in the first outing back on Nov. 23. Mikko Rantanen scored two goals, and J.T. Compher and Artturi Lehkonen each had two assists.

SCOUTING THE CANUCKS

Elias Pettersson paces Vancouver in scoring with 44 points (17G, 27A). Bo Horvat follows with 42 points (28G, 14A) and leads the team in goals. Horvat is tied for third (Alex Ovechkin - 28G) in the league in goals behind Connor McDavid (33) and Tage Thompson (30).
Quinn Hughes has tallied 30 assists this season, which is fourth among NHL blueliners.

LINEUP UPDATES

Avalanche

Gabriel Landeskog Lower body
Bowen ByramLower body
Josh MansonLower body
Pavel Francouz Unknown
Valeri Nichushkin Lower body
Shane BowersUpper body

DOING THE MOST

Andrew Cogliano has notched 35 points (12G, 23A) versus the Canucks in his career, which is the most by an active Avs player against the Vancouver franchise.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Oliver Ekman-Larsson has recorded the most points among active Vancouver skaters with 22 (8G, 14A) against the Avalanche franchise.

NUMBERS GAME

25
Mikko Rantanen recorded his team-leading 25th goal of the season, tied for sixth in the NHL. It marked his 21st even-strength goal, which leads the NHL.
5th
MacKinnon notched the ice-breaker versus the Golden Knights on Monday, becoming the fifth player in franchise history to score at least 50 career game-opening goals, joining Joe Sakic (117), Milan Hejduk (66), Michel Goulet (53) and Peter Stastny (50).
0:25
MacKinnon's game-opening goal against Vegas came 25 seconds into the first period, the fastest goal by an Avalanche player to start a game this season.

QUOTES THAT LEFT A MARK

"I felt great being out there with the guys. I definitely got a lot more to give. There's a lot more games here to get better, looking forward to that. Not a bad start. Obviously, we want the win." -Darren Helm on his season debut