Colorado will have to bring its A-game in order to have a chance at two points against the best team in the league on Tuesday night.
Colorado will have to bring its A-game in order to have a chance at two points against the best team in the league on Tuesday night.
The Colorado Avalanche know the challenges ahead of them when they face off against the top team in the league at Ball Arena Tuesday night. But the Avs could have a slight advantage or disadvantage — the Vancouver Canucks are coming off a ridiculously high-scoring loss to the Minnesota Wild Monday afternoon.
"I am expecting a bounce back. This is the number one team in the league right now over 700 winning percentage which is really impressive. And stingy defensive group, but yet they have a high-scoring offense and very powerful offensive attack," head coach Jared Bednar said after morning skate. "So I think you look at last night's game — they played pretty good 5-on-5 really. At the end of the day they get in all that penalty trouble at the end of the second, early in the third and it cost them a game but as a whole, I didn't feel like their game was that bad. I think that's a one off."
Discipline was an issue for the Avalanche in the 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday as the team racked up seven minors for a total of 14 penalty minutes. The Avs penalty kill unit has been "leaky" as of late according to Bednar, which is a main reason they need to tighten up that part of their game.
"When you play against teams that have a good power play, which a lot of teams do so you try to stay out of the box and be smart," Avs forward Mikko Rantanen said. "Play 5-on-5 because we're still a good 5-on-5 team and we can really earn some penalties — some power plays, playing 5-on-5 and skating, so it's a goal of ours for sure."
Rantanen's linemate, Jonathan Drouin, noted that the Yotes game was not a typical one for them and stressed the importance of playing a more disciplined game tonight.
"Last game was a weird game with the challenges and the penalties were a lot of — no really momentum or rhythm in the game," Drouin said. "Thought guys handled that pretty well but we got to stay out of the box."
Bednar said he did not like a few of the calls on his players in the last matchup but discipline is always a concern in any game. The Canucks are 10th in the league on the power play so the Avalanche cannot afford to give them the man advantage.
Alexandar Georgiev will start in net but he also needs to remain collected as he displayed some frustration in the last game. He has proven to be clinch at making big saves when he is dialed in and not frazzled.
Projected lineup
Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Artturi Lehkonen
Zach Parise — Ryan Johansen — Joel Kiviranta
Fredrik Olofsson — Chris Wagner — Andrew Cogliano
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Bowen Byram
Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen
Logan O'Connor remains out with a lower-body injury. He briefly skated ahead of the team's morning skate, along with Gabriel Landeskog, but Bednar did not have a timeline for his return.
This is the second of three matchups between the teams — the Avs won 5-2 on Nov. 22 at Ball Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. MT.
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