Colorado Avalanche Gameday: The Avs look to rebound from two tough luck losses to Columbus last week

The Avalanche are in somewhat desperation mode at the moment as the injuries continue, as well as the losses. Despite having two third period leads in the home and home with Columbus, the Avs were only able to secure 1 point in those two games. This will be a critical game at home with the Ball Arena crowd’s support to get things back on track.

Colorado Avalanche (4-5-1):

It was announced yesterday that Nathan MacKinnon will miss “give or take” 3 weeks with a lower body injury. This is tough news considering the return of Valeri Nichushkin, who is making his return to the lineup after missing every game since opening night.

Cale Makar also returns tonight after missing the last 2 games. This will mean Ryan Murray will evidently miss tonights game as Erik and Jack Johnson round out the 3rd D pairing. The roster is as close as we have seen to normal since the beginning of the season with the sending down of forward Sampo Ranta to the AHL and the recalling of forward Alex Newhook.

Here is the lineup for tonight’s matchup:

Vancouver Canucks (5-6-2):

The Canucks have had a similar “slow” start to the season with 12 points in 12 games going a record of 5-6-2. As the season progresses for the Canucks, some familiar names have carried the torch for them.

J.T. Miller leads the team with 13 points in 13 games. Forwards Brock Boeser & Conor Garland have 8 points in their last 10 games. Quinn Hughes has 10 points in his last 10 games.

Here is the projected lineup for the Canucks:

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Nils Hoglander

J.T. Miller — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Vasily Podkolzin — Jason Dickinson — Conor Garland

Justin Dowling — Juho Lammikko — Justin Bailey

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes — Tucker Poolman

Jack Rathbone — Kyle Burroughs

Thatcher Demko

Jaroslav Halak

Goaltenders:

It’s expected that it’ll be Kuemper versus Demko for tonight in net. Both will look to steer their teams in the right direction.