Wednesday January 25 - Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche - 6:30 p.m. - Sportsnet 360
Vancouver Canucks: 48 GP, 22-20-6, 50 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Colorado Avalanche: 45 GP, 13-30-2, 28 pts, seventh in Central Division
Sorry, Jordan Subban. Alex Edler is healthy enough to play tonight, when the Vancouver Canucks will look for their third win of the season against the Colorado Avalanche.
This will be the last meeting of the year between the two teams, so a win tonight would give Vancouver a clean sweep against the reeling Avs, who are a league worst 1-8-1 in their last 10 games. Gale force trade rumours are swirling around the team's stars and role players alike—it's believed that only youngsters Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Tyson Jost are considered to be unavailable.
On Monday night, Twitter went crazy when Matt Duchene was a late scratch, even though he was said to be ill. Looks like it was a false alarm, as Duchene is still with the team and is expected to dress tonight. He told
Terry Frei of the
Denver Post that he was hit hard by a stomach virus that necessitated several trips to the emergency room.
“I started laughing,” Duchene said about the trade rumours. “I never thought of it at the time. I thought if we announce that I was sick, there wouldn’t be any questions about it. But I guess there was. I mean, I understand it. It’s part of the business and it’s something that may or may not happen at some point here. It was not a big deal. I just kind of laughed it off. It’s to be expected, I guess.”
Even with Duchene back, the Avs remain far from healthy. Defenseman Erik Johnson has been sidelined since early December with a broken leg and Tyson Barrie has also now been added to I.R. with a lower-body injury. Starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov is back on the shelf with a groin injury and could end up being shut down for the season, while Rene Bourque is also out of action with a lower-body problem.
Calvin Pickard will get the nod in net tonight for the Avs. Considering Colorado's overall record, his numbers actually aren't too bad—he's 7-12-1 for the year, with a .904 save percentage and a 3.01 goals-against average. He has played just once in Colorado's last six games—a 2-1 road loss to the Anaheim Ducks on January 19.
Colorado's woes could be just what the doctor ordered for the Canucks, who are looking to finish out their schedule before the All-Star break by improving their woeful 5-14-3 record away from Rogers Arena. The Avalanche are far-and-away the league's worst team on home ice, with a 5-17-1 record at the Pepsi Center. That's only half as many wins as the next-worst teams—Detroit, New Jersey and Arizona—who have all won 10 times on home ice.
Alex Edler says he's well enough to play tonight, but emphatically refused to elaborate further on the nature of his injury.
Of course, today is Bell Let's Talk Day, in support of mental health. The Canucks organization feels an especially strong connection to this cause as a result of the struggles of one of its former players, Rick Rypien.
Here's a list of all the ways that you can get involved.
Jacob Markstrom is expected to start for the Canucks tonight, while Ryan Miller will get the nod in Arizona tomorrow. Though the Canucks are coming off that loss in Chicago on Sunday, no other lineup changes are expected.
As for the playoff picture, the Blues and Kings won on Tuesday, while the Flames lost their fourth straight game. Coming into tonight's action, Vancouver is tied with Los Angeles with 50 points and both teams have now played the same number of games, but Vancouver sits lower than L.A. in the standings due to the tiebreaking procedure.
A win tonight would move the Canucks into sold possession of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, with a chance to move even higher if they can also pick up two points against Arizona on Thursday.
That's all the news for now. I'll close with this look-in from Utica. Check out Thatcher Demko's look for this weekend's team fundraiser—very cool!
Speaking of goalie gear, the NHL has now set a February 4 deadline for all goalies to switch to the new, more streamlined goalie pants. It'll be interesting to see if this change has any kid of effect on the play of Ryan Miller or Jacob Markstrom.
Chest-protector changes won't come into effect until next season.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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