Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vancouver Canucks (8:00 p.m.)

It’s a Colorado Avalanche game day!

The Avalanche are back on the road after a very lucrative and successful homestand and are set to face off with the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. The Avalanche took advantage of a Flyers team that hadn’t scored in six periods, and Mackenzie Blackwood logged his second consecutive shutout in Colorado’s last time out. The Canucks are 4-5-1 in their last ten and have dropped two straight games heading into tonight’s contest. Can the Avalanche push their streak to three games, or will Vancouver do what they did in December and secure a home victory over Colorado?

Colorado Avalanche

The new look Avs has grown on me despite my initial reaction to the Mikko Rantanen trade. It’s early, but Colorado’s powerplay seems rejuvenated, and the forward depth is showing up. I gave MacFarland a lot of grief for saying the team would “make up for it in the aggregate” as it pertained to replicating Mikko’s production, but that’s exactly what’s happening. Marty Necas has five points in his five games with Colorado, and Jack Drury has two points in the same time frame. While in Colorado, Mikko clipped at about a point and a half per game.

Mackenzie Blackwood is quickly becoming one of the best netminders in the league, both statistically and in terms of success. His 2.03 GAA and .925 SV % in Colorado are ideal metrics and have manifested into twelve victories in just 18 starts. Let’s hope Big Mack can expand on that tonight!

One more thing: it looks like the Colorado Carriage Crisis has finally ended! Comcast and Altitude appear to have struck a deal to return Altitude’s broadcast to Xfinity users. My only question is, what took so long?

Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin — Casey Mittelstadt — Juuso Parssinen
Miles Wood — Jack Drury — Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly — Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton — Sam Malinski

Note: Valeri Nichushkin has been placed on Injury Reserve retroactive to Dec. 31, 2024, and Oliver Kylington has been activated.

Vancouver Canucks

It’s been a tumultuous time in Vancouver lately, with much drama stealing the headlines in BC. Well, that may be ending with J.T.’s removal and trade. Miller was let go (allegedly) due to an altercation, verbal or otherwise, with teammate Elias Pettersson. Whatever happened, it was enough for the Canucks to pick a side and move on from Miller in a deal with the Rangers that returned Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

As of right now, Canucks management is playing a dangerous game. Moving on from Miller drew a clear line in the sand and showed they are loyal to young Elias Pettersson, but if they don’t realize some positivity in terms of the outcome, it’s more than likely that the Canucks fierce fanbase will quickly turn on the kid. I say the Avalanche pour salt on the wound with a dominant victory.

Projected Lineup:

Jake DeBrusk — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua — Filip Chytil — Conor Garland
Drew O’Connor — Pius Suter — Kiefer Sherwood
Nils Hoglander — Teddy Blueger — Linus Karlsson

Derek Forbort — Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson — Tyler Myers
Elias Nils Pettersson — Noah Juulsen

Goaltenders

With backup Scott Wedgewood still on the mind with an upper-body injury, I assume the Avalanche will ride the hot hand and go with Mackenzie Blackwood. As for the Canucks, Thatcher Demko is the unconfirmed starter.