Monday January 2 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Colorado Avalanche - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 38 GP, 17-18-3, 37 pts, sixth in Pacific Division Colorado Avalanche: 36 GP, 12-23-1, 25 pts, seventh in Central Division
The Vancouver Canucks will look to win four straight games for the first time since the beginning of the season when they start off 2017 by hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
The four-day Christmas break did wonders for the Canucks, who returned to action rejuvenated, reeling off wins against Pacific Division playoff teams from Los Angeles, Anaheim and Edmonton. The Avalanche, by contrast, continue their slide down the Central Division standings. They're tied with the Arizona Coyotes (Vancouver's next opponents, on Wednesday) with a league-worst 2-8-0 record over their last 10 games.
It's important not to get ahead of ourselves, but with the way the Canucks have been playing, it's not inconceivable that they could win their next two games this week before going into what should be a hard-fought home-and-home series against Calgary on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Canucks took a well-deserved day off on Sunday after their shootout win over the Oilers on Saturday night.
The big news from today's morning skate—no Alex Burrows.
Burrows has a scratch in his eye and will miss tonight's game.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 2, 2017
Burrows did miss some action on Saturday in Edmonton, but returned to finish the game. He had a goal and was a plus-two against the Oilers.
Burrows' absence means that Anton Rodin will draw into the lineup—and into a sweet role, playing with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi. With the way those two have been playing over the last week, that gives the embattled Swede every chance to succeed in his second-career NHL game.
"I'm happy I'm back and those are two good players, so I have to play my best hockey." - Rodin, on playing with Horvat & Baertschi.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 2, 2017
Ryan Miller gets the nod in net, looking for his third-straight win at Rogers Arena.
One other roster move for the Canucks today—Andrey Pedan has been re-assigned to the Utica Comets. He didn't get into any game action during his call-up. The Canucks still have seven healthy defensemen on the roster, with Alex Biega skating as the extra blueliner.
Vancouver sits sixth in the Pacific Division standings, three points behind the fifth-place Los Angeles Kings, but with 37 points, they've caught the Winnipeg Jets for 11th spot in the wild-card race. They'll have a chance to move up further tonight—the Nashville Predators are fifth in the Central with 38 points and the Dallas Stars are fourth with 39, though both teams currently have games in hand over Vancouver. A win tonight would move the Canucks to .500 for the first time since October 29 and put them just one point out of a playoff spot.
As for the Avalanche, they haven't won a game outright since December 11—a 3-1 win over Toronto. Colorado is now last in the league with 122 goals against thanks to three big losses since Christmas—6-3 to Calgary, 4-2 to Dallas and 6-2 to the New York Rangers.
Even the Avs' beat reporters sound worn down by the team's struggles this season.
For those who still care, Duchene back at C this AM. Stat sheet also has Pickard below 900 saves % (.899). Yikes. Varlamov (.901) still out pic.twitter.com/F63abbTkUV
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) January 1, 2017
Starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov has played just two of Colorado's last nine games as he struggles with a groin problem, and won't play tonight. In his absence, Calvin Pickard's record has dropped to 6-9-1, with a 3.14 goals-against average and .899 save percentage.
Defenseman Erik Johnson is also out of action long term, with a broken leg.
With the Avs currently locked in the league cellar under new coach Jared Bednar, there has been plenty of talk that something has to give soon in terms of player movement. Jarome Iginla, now 39, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and could be a good rental player for a playoff team. He has five goals and nine points so far this season.
With Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene currently leading the team in scoring, Gabriel Landeskog's name is the one that's coming up most frequently in trade rumours. The 24-year-old team captain has just six goals and 11 points in 26 games this season.
The Canucks and Avs have met once before this season. Alex Edler suffered his broken finger, Jacob Markstrom made 35 saves and Markus Granlund scored the shootout winner in Vancouver's gritty 3-2 win in Denver on November 26.
Enjoy the game!