Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche Looking for Revenge against Vancouver

By Nadia Archuleta

DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 02: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) races down ice with the puck with Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat (53) in tow in the third period at the Pepsi Center February 01, 2019. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 02: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) races down ice with the puck with Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat (53) in tow in the third period at the Pepsi Center February 01, 2019. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche need a home win against the visiting Vancouver Canucks to stay in the playoff race — and to save face.

The Colorado Avalanche host the Vancouver Canucks tonight at Pepsi Center. Colorado needs a win to keep vying for the final playoff berth.

The teams have met twice before already this season. The first time was in early November when the Canucks handed the Avs one of their many overtime losses. The second game was a regulation loss that knocked Colorado out of the playoffs — a berth they haven’t occupied for more than a few hours since.

So, yes, the Avs would like some revenge on Vancouver. They’d also like to get back in the win column — and, you know, not get swept by the Canucks in their series.

Vancouver is coming off a shutout victory against the Anaheim Ducks. However, at the time of writing, the Canucks were five points out of a playoff position with two teams to leapfrog (Colorado and Arizona).

Colorado is coming of yet another overtime loss, this one to the Florida Panthers. At the time of writing, the Avs were one point out of a playoff position but with Dallas having a game in hand.

A distressing trend that I remarked on in the last preview is that the Avalanche have been far from dominant at home. With Monday’s overtime loss, the team is still playing just .500 hockey.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: February 25, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: ALT,  FS-F (Cats’ Feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5)

Goalie Contributions

Jared Bednar no longer announces ahead of time who the goalie is going to be. It could be either Semyon Varlamov or Philipp Grubauer.

Varlamov seemed to return to form starting with a win against the Winnipeg Jets — at  home — during which he allowed only one goal and recorded a .960 save percentage. He followed that with a .938 save percentage (Avs lost to the Blues), a shutout against Vegas, a 0963 save percentage (beating Winnipeg again) and a .932 save percentage to beat Chicago.

And then Florida scored four goals on him, including the game-winner in overtime. He recorded a .895 save percentage.

Grubauer has had only one start recently, but it was a good one. He shut out the Predators in Nashville.

Like I said, it’s hard to tell which way Bednar will go. I’d go with Grubauer to see if he can get on a similar roll to Varlamov personally.

Overall Consistency

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The goalies aren’t the only ones who need to show consistency. Everyone from the fourth liners to the coaches need to do the same.

Starting there — the fourth line was looking good with Sheldon Dries, Andrew Agozzino, and AJ Greer. Why did Bednar suddely switch it up completely to Sven Andrighetto, Dries, and Gabriel Bourque?! I get he had to make space for newbie Derick Brassard, but that’s no reason to slip Bourque back into the lineup. Choose the better of Greer and Agozzino, and send the other alone back to Loveland.

Nathan MacKinnon has been… weird lately. He went through a large slump that started before the All Star Game. I’m not convinced it’s over even though he has five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in the last five. He was almost solely responsible for the last two overtime losses by failing his defensive assignment.

And everyone needs to play a full 60 minutes. I get that they’re in playoff mode right now because every point is so important as they try to claw into that playoff spot. Well, they got themselves into that mess with their inconsistent playing for two month.

I’m a big fan of the new line combination of Brassard centering Tyson Jost and Matt Calvert. Also, Mikko Rantanen back on MacKinnon’s wing with Alexander Kerfoot on the other side is working.

Next. Evaluating the Brassard Addition. dark

Tonight marks the third and final time the Colorado Avalanche will play the Vancouver Canucks. After tonight, the Avs head on a West Coast road trip to face the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.

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