After getting back into the win column on Monday night, the Vancouver Canucks now head to Denver to battle with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Canucks will roll into the Mile High City with three of the top five point-getters in the league. Quinn Hughes sits atop the leaderboard with 30 points through 19 games played. Hughes is the first defenceman since Bobby Orr to be the first NHL player to reach 30 points in a season.
It’s clear that Hughes is finding his groove offensively. He has already matched his career high in goals with eight this season and we still aren’t a quarter of the way through the season.
The Avalanche and their stud defenceman Cale Makar are waiting for the 13-5-1 Canucks to come to town in what is anticipated to arguably be the biggest matchup of the night on a Wednesday when the NHL has 14 games on the docket.
As you would expect, the Avalanche are off to a strong start this season. They hold an 11-6-0 record and sit second in the Central Division.
Many will be talking about Cale Makar versus Quinn Hughes as the two young defencemen are seen by many as being head and shoulders above the rest of the blue-liners in the league. Makar comes into Wednesday’s game with 27 points in 17 games. He has been an assist machine, but Hughes is currently doubling him in goals as Makar has only found the back of the net four times this season.
The Avs are juiced with BC talent. On the backend, Bowen Byram and Devon Toews each play in Colorado’s top-four and Abbotsford’s Toews is eating up big minutes while he plays alongside Makar on the Avalanche’s top pairing. Toews brings sneaky offence from the backend, the 29-year-old has three goals and eight assists through 17 games this season.
At forward, Ryan Johansen has been finding the back of the net with consistency this season. He’s scored six goals on the year and centres the second line with Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar on his wings. All three of the BC boys get power play time with the Avs and Johansen has had the most success with the man-advantage. He has four power play markers this season.
Quick hits on the competition
- Alexander Georgiev has been in net for 15 of the Avalanche’s 17 games this season. Georgiev has a .888% save percentage on the season and is last in the league for five-on-five goals saved above average with a -7.82 GSAA.
- Mikko Rantanen leads the offence with 11 goals on the season.
- The Avs have the 5th best penalty kill in the league – clicking at 86.8%.
- The Avalanche lead the league in shots on net per game and have the 2nd best five-on-five shot share in the league with a 56.1% control.
- Nathan MacKinnon is tied for the league lead in five-on-five points (15) with six goals and nine assists in 17 games.
- The Avalanche have won three of their last four games but are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday.
Aside from the league-leading point-getter in Hughes, the Canucks have continued to showcase their high-powered offence throughout the lineup. Miller isn’t far behind him, notching 17 points in his last 11 games, Brock Boeser has seven goals and six assists over his last 11 games, and Elias Pettersson has 15 points in his last 11.
Wednesday marks the first game of three in four nights for the Canucks. They certainly won’t be looking past the Avalanche as this is a good litmus test for how the team matches up against a top-tier team. A win over the Avs would also help spark this quick three-game road trip that sees the Canucks roll into Seattle on Friday and down to San Jose on Saturday.
Puck drop for Wednesday night’s game against the Avs is scheduled for a 7:00 pm PT puck drop. You can expect a rowdy crowd in Colorado as it’s Thanksgiving Eve down in the US. The game will be broadcast on Sportsnet and the radio call will be available on Sportsnet 650.
