Colorado Avalanche Must Have Short Memories to Beat Vancouver

The Colorado Avalanche hope to redeem themselves during the second game of a back-to-back when they face the Vancouver Canucks.

The Colorado Avalanche need to apply a little mental bleach after last night’s game. I’ve already analyzed how badly last night’s game went last night when the Avs blew a 4-1 lead in the third period to lose 6-5 in regulation.

The Avs should have gotten at least a point in that game, but we can’t focus on coulda, woulda, shoulda. Instead, let’s look at tonight’s opponent.

The Avalanche are facing the Vancouver Canucks for the first time this season. Historically, they’ve done quite well against Vancouver, having gone 66-43-10-7 (ties). Last season, Colorado took two of their three games.

The Avs, as we know, are coming off that dreadful 6-5 loss in Calgary. Vancouver, on the other hand, just beat the Chicago Blackhawks (we’re thankful for that) 4-2 on Wednesday.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: November 2, 8:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Alt, NHLN-US, SNP (Canucks feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Tonight is Diwali night at Rogers Arena. Vancouver will be hosting popular South Asian cultural activities such as diyas painting, henna stations, and Rangoli artwork demonstrations on the concourse. Diwali is the Festival of Lights, and I think it’s one of the coolest things that the Canucks are hosting a night to celebrate South Asian culture.

Moving on to hockey, though.

Bounce Back Game

The Colorado Avalanche need to regain their footing, and their momentum, after last night’s loss. The team went from playing four games in a week to having a four-day break. After tonight’s game, they have another four-game gameless span.

The Avs can’t come away from this roadie with no points. That means tonight they have to play some solid hockey. They pretty much have to tighten up every aspect of the game.

At the beginning of the year, I observed that the Avs players minimized mistakes. And when they did make a mistake, they bounced back right away. Tonight needs to be one of those nights.

Game Management

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Oh, boy this is the big one. The Colorado Avalanche need to start with fire in their bellies. They need to keep up their momentum in the second period. They need to finish strong.

Colorado will have a different goalie in net (not that I blame Semyon Varlamov for last night). Before the Avs even embarked on the road trip, coach Jared Bednar had announced that Philipp Grubauer would start in Vancouver.

A positive from last night’s game is that they finally got some secondary scoring. Rookies Vladislav Kamenev and Sheldon Dries each scored their first NHL goals. Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg also recorded goals. Secondary scoring had been an area of question for the team before last night.

That said, the Avs still need their top line to be the leaders in recording points.

Top Line Redemption

Hoo boy, last night was bad for the MGM line. They were a -3. You might not believe in the plus/minus stat, but… saying this line was actually detrimental to the team is true.

Water under the bridge. Tonight is their chance to earn back the “Best line in the NHL” title. Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are the leaders of the team (along with Erik Johnson). As they go, so goes the team most nights.

Secondary scoring is great. We love secondary scoring. We’re still on Tyson Barrie Goal Watch. But we also need to see our best line dominate again. No time like the present.

After tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will face the Vancouver Canucks two more times, both in Colorado. They’ll host Vancouver on February 2 and again on February 27.