It feels like a week and a half since the Vancouver Canucks blanked the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night in a commanding 5-0 victory.
In reality, it’s only been a few days, and now, the Canucks are back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche – one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche currently sit with a 40-20-5 record and are fourth in the conference. The Avs have been excellent on home ice with their 20-6-0 record but have slipped up on the road and have a 14-14-5 record away from their home barn.
They will be on the second night of back-to-backs as they are in Calgary on Tuesday night for game one of their four-game road trip. So far this season, the Avs are 2-2-0 on the second night of back-to-backs. Luckily for them, they did have three full days off heading into their game against Calgary on Tuesday night.
The 2022 Stanley Cup champions have been finding their game lately. The Avs are on a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games. A big reason for their recent success has been their special teams groups. The Avalanche’s power play has scored six goals with the man-advantage in their last six games and has only allowed three power play goals against in that run.
For the season, the Avalanche rank seventh in the league with a 24.5% power play and are tenth with an 80.8% penalty kill.
Nathan MacKinnon has 30 power play assists, and that is tied with Nikita Kucherov for number one in the league. The top goal scorer for the Avalanche’s power play is Valeri Nichushkin. He has 14 power play goals and that ranks fifth in the league while being one goal shy of Brock Boeser’s 15.
MacKinnon is leading the NHL with 111 points. He’s been on an absolute tear all season long but has somehow found another level in his last 20 games. He’s picked up 39 points over his last 20 games and has more multi-point games (35) this season than games with one or no points (30).
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- The Avalanche are 2-2-0 on the second game of back-to-backs this season.
- Josh Manson was leading the Avalanche in hits for most of the season, but they acquired Yakov Trenin from the Nashville Predators ahead of the trade deadline and he is now the leader. Manson has 172 while Trenin has 175.
- Cale Makar is the leading man on ice time, he currently averages 24:55 per game. Makar has 17 goals and 53 assists for 70 points. He is six points behind Quinn Hughes for the league leader in points from a defenceman.
- No goaltender has played more games than Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev. He’s played in 52 games this season and holds a 33-15-3 record with a .901% save percentage.
The Canucks come into Wednesday’s game with a couple of days rest and a strong practice on Tuesday morning. The team is beginning to get back to what got them their positioning in the standings and the team got through their tough post-All-Star stretch that saw a limited amount of practice time and even fewer days off.
Over the past four games, the Canucks have allowed just three goals against. They are playing to their structure and head coach Rick Tocchet has been happy to see each of his players take on the challenge to play their specific role in the lineup.
Vasily Podkolzin has been in the Canucks lineup for each of the last four games and he is yet to be on the ice for a goal against. Podkolzin has seven shots on net in his four games. He has been playing alongside Elias Lindholm and Conor Garland while also seeing time on the second power play unit.
The Canucks’ top pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek have been outstanding over the Canucks’ four-game winning streak. At five-on-five, the pairing has a 66.4% Corsi over their streak, they’ve been on the ice for 46 scoring chances for and 17 against and has been on the ice for four goals scored and only one against.
Rick Tocchet confirmed that he expects to see Casey DeSmith get a run of games over the next week and the team called up Arturs Silovs from Abbotsford after Tocchet confirmed that Thatcher Demko would be week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Canucks’ Top Performers over Last Five:
Quinn Hughes: 1g-5a-6p
Nils Höglander: 2g-3a-5p
J.T. Miller: 2g-2a-4p
Elias Pettersson: 2g-2a-4p
Conor Garland: 2g-1a-3p
Wednesday’s game is scheduled for a 7:00 pm PT broadcast on Sportsnet. The game can also be listened to over radio through Sportsnet 650, which is the home of play-by-play star, Brendan Batchelor.
