Canucks try to avoid being swept up by Avalanche in Colorado
Posted March 27, 2014 12:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COLORADO (NEWS1130) – The Canucks and Avalanche meet tonight in Colorado.
The Canucks are wrapping up their two-game road trip. They defeated Minnesota last night 5-2.
The roles have been reversed for the Canucks and Avalanche. For the last few seasons, this time of year would be a mad scramble for Colorado to sneak in to the playoffs, while Vancouver sat comfortably near the top of the standings. This season, the Avalanche are fifth in the Western Conference and quickly closing in on a playoff spot. The Canucks have won four straight, but the still face a huge uphill climb to grab the final wild card spot.
Much of the credit for Colorado’s amazing turnaround belongs to first year coach and goaltending legend Patrick Roy. He is essentially a lock to win the Jack Adams Trophy as the top coach in the league. Roy says he is urging his players to take it game by game.
“We don’t want to go back to where we were in the past. The culture has been changing here and obviously we are not going to be a satisfied team. We are going to try and work even harder everyday. We are going to look to the next challenge and that is playing Vancouver.”
Roy adds much of Colorado’s success belongs to the young stars of the team, especially rookie Nathan MacKinnon.
“He is a strong player. He is a strong person. He is having a really good year and he’s strong on the ice. He does everything well and has improved tremendously. It is pretty impressive for a 18-year old.
MacKinnon has 55 points in 72 games and his considered a favourite to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
Another Avalanche forward having a breakout year is Gabriel Landeskog.
“We realize we haven’t accomplished anything yet. We have been playing good all season long, but going in to the playoffs now and the time leading up to that is really when it matters. We have to create some good habits and making sure we are on our toes when we do get to the playoffs because we certainly won’t be satisfied just getting there, we want to create some damage as well.”
This is the second meeting of the season between the two teams. The Canucks defeated the Avalanche 3-1 in December.
Puck drop is at 6 p.m. and you can watch the game on Sportsnet Pacific.
