Colorado Avalanche: Keys for the Canadian Road Trip
The Colorado Avalanche embark on their third roadie and first foray into Canada starting tonight with the game against the Calgary Flames.
The Colorado Avalanche are heading to Canada for the first time this year. They’re also about to embark on their second back-to-back series, a consecutive back-to-back considering their last two games were such. Luckily, they’ve had four days of no games.
Tonight the Avs play against the Calgary Flames, whom they’ve already hosted this year. The team blew a two-goal lead. The game had to go to overtime, and they loss. Unfortunately, that’s also the game that saw forward JT Compher go down with a head injury that he’s still battling.
Tomorrow night marks the first time the Avalanche are playing the Canucks. All-time the Avs are 66-43-10-7 (ties) against Vancouver. Last season, Colorado took two of their three games.
The Avalanche are coming off that four-day break preceded by a loss in Minnesota. Minnesota played in Buffalo on Tuesday, skating to an overtime win. Vancouver hosted the Blackhawks on Wednesday.
How to Enjoy the Games
Calgary:
Game time: November 1, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Alt, SN1 (Flames feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)
Vancouver:
Game time: November 2, 8:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Alt, NHLN-US, SNP (Canucks feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)
Hot Scorers
The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantenen and Gabriel Landeskog continues to be hot for the Avalanche. Well, they were anyway. It’s been four days, though Gabe and Mikko got points. Both of those players have recorded a point in every game barring the Tampa loss, when the Avs were shut out. Nate was also shut down in Minnesota.
Right now Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are the hot players. Gaudreau has four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in the last three games. Monahan has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in the last four games.
Vancouver is struggling in the scoring department.
Tyson Barrie Score Watch
Twelve games into the season, Tyson Barrie hasn’t scored a goal yet. We’re not worried, right? He’s got nine assists on the year. But Barrie is known for at least potting in a few goals.
Last year Barrie scored in the first game of the season. He did so the previous year, too. However, in the 2015-16 season, he didn’t score a goal until the 16th of the season. That was a year that saw him match his career-best (to that time) with 13.
So, now worries. But, yeah, we’re on a bit of a Tyson Barrie Goal Watch.
Game Management
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The Colorado Avalanche are struggling with game management, which is not a new issue with them. As I mentioned earlier, they got out to a two-goal lead against the Flames then let Calgary back in, thus losing a point. Against the Ottawa Senators, they got off to a sluggish start but then dominated the second half of the game.
Against the Wild? That was just a weird game. However, that’s also a game that saw them give up both a power play and a short-handed goal while not scoring on the man-advantage themselves.
The Avalanche are coming in off of two days’ of rest and two days’ of practice, which directly preceded flying to Canada. Hopefully, they’ve gotten enough into their groove to control key moments in the game.
Line Combinations
Well, you know by now the injury situation with the Avalanche. Two of their youngsters, J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost, are out with head injuries. Of the two, it seems Jost is the closest to returning. They’re also without Sven Andrighetto, who was taking on some of Jost’s minutes on the second line and the power play.
The lines haven’t been set yet. However, the top line will remain intact. It’s also highly unlikely the coaching staff will break up the third line of Matthe Nieto, Carl Soderberg and Matt Calvert — they love it too much.
From there, it appears the second line may consist of Alexander Kerfoot, Vladislav Kamenev, and Colin Wilson. I don’t mind that line too much. Kerfoot seems to play well anywhere except the top line (when MacKinnon was injured last year). Wilson is a good vet for the youngsters, and Kamenev can hopefully benefit from increased responsibility.
Because of the injuries, the Colorado Avalanche had to make two call-ups, Sheldon Dries and AJ Greer. It looks like they may comprise the fourth line along with Marko Dano, with Gabriel Bourque serving as the healthy scratch. To be honest, I don’t mind seeing what the youngsters can do. That is supposed to be the focus right now.
Next. Avs Miss JT Compher. dark
After this Canadian road trip, the Colorado Avalanche return home for another four-day gameless stretch. They’ll then have one home game, an important divisional match against the Nashville Predators, followed by another foray into Canada.