Tuesday February 9 - Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche - 6 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 52 GP, 20-20-12, 52 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Colorado Avalanche: 55 GP, 27-24-4, 58 pts, fifth in Central Division
Two teams desperate for points to keep their playoff dreams alive will face off tonight at Pepsi Center as the city of Denver celebrates a Super Bowl win for its hometown Broncos.
The Colorado Avalanche currently hold the last Western Conference wild-card spot and will need to stay ahead of the Minnesota Wild (55 points), Arizona Coyotes (54 points) and the Canucks (52 points) if they hope to get back into the postseason after finishing seventh in the Central last year.
As for the Canucks,
Iain MacIntyre did the playoff math in his latest
Vancouver Sun column:
Since no one has qualified for the Western Conference playoffs with fewer than 91 points since 2001 and the eighth-place finisher the last 10 years has averaged 94 points, the Canucks need to win 19 or 20 of their final 30 games. Minimum.
With 30 games remaining, that's a very tall order. Look up at that stat line at the top of the page—in their first 52 games, the Canucks picked up only 20 wins.
The next two games against Colorado and Arizona are virtual must-wins if Vancouver wants to keep those playoff hopes alive.
Sports Club Stats currently pegs the Canucks with an 18.1 percent chance of making the playoffs but is showing that the result of tonight's game could lead to a swing of as many as 37 percentage points between its impact on Vancouver and Colorado.
After losing 6-2 in Pittsburgh last night, Anaheim is also playing another big game tonight in Philadelphia.
It sounds like management is giving this group one more week to prove itself.
Remember, even if the Canucks do decide they want to be sellers, they might not get the opportunity to move their most valuable trade chip, Dan Hamhuis:
The Ottawa Senators decided to make a big move to improve their playoff chances when they acquired Dion Phaneuf from Toronto this morning. The Sens are currently four points out of the Eastern Conference wild card but they'd need to leapfrog three other teams—currently New Jersey, Carolina and Montreal—in order to get in.
Even if this move doesn't pay off immediately, I don't mind this deal for Ottawa, at least over the next couple of years. I think Phaneuf will be better-suited to a somewhat lower-profile role and the Sens needed to make a big move to improve their blue line over the long term. Ottawa is tied for last place in the league with 170 goals against and their 33.1 shots against per game is the highest number in the league.
I had thought Roman Polak was the highest-profile Leafs blueliner who might move this month. I wonder what other surprise deals we might see between now and Feb. 29?
I got a jolt when I spotted this Tweet this morning:
That's the FAKE Bob McKenzie account. Nothing to see here...
Back in Denver, the boys will be looking to put on a good show for their moms tonight.
Jacob Markstrom gets the nod in net after Ryan Miller has gone 0-3-1 in the team's last four games. Jake Virtanen moves up to the second line with Horvat and Baertschi, reuniting the Kid Line that showed some sizzle back in preseason. Jared McCann and Adam Cracknell are expected to be the scratches.
Here's a quick look at Colorado's projected forward lines for tonight:
Defencemen Nate Guenin and Zach Redmond are the scratches, while forward Jack Skille is sidelined with a concussion. Jesse Winchester, Brad Stuart, Ben Street and Reto Berra are all out long term.
Semyon Varlamov is expected to get the start in net tonight. He's back in action after missing a couple of weeks to deal with the civil lawsuit that was brought against him by his ex-girlfriend as a result of that alleged domestic violence incident from October of 2013.
Varlamov came out of that case with a resounding victory. His accuser was hit with legal costs as a result of "abuse of process."
Despite their need for points, neither team has won a game since before the All-Star break. The Avs are 0-2-1 and the Canucks are 0-1-1.
One of them will get the W tonight. Which team will it be?
Thatcher Demko Sets Record
At yesterday's Beanpot Tournament in Boston, Canucks goaltending prospect Thatcher Demko turned more heads.
Boston College got the 1-0 win over Boston University in the tournament's championship game on a goal from Alex Tuch. Demko's shutout broke the old record that had been held by none other than our old pal Cory Schneider.
Check out these numbers:
Demko is having an amazing season and has proven himself as a top goaltending prospect. Still just 20 years old, it would be fantastic to see him make the jump to Utica and start his pro career next season.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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