Colorado Avalanche in Must-Win Situation vs Vancouver
The Colorado Avalanche must start their comeback in the playoff race against the Vancouver Canucks tonight.
For the Colorado Avalanche, playing against the Vancouver Canucks in November is always death. Overall, their win percentage against Vancouver is good — 53% with an 80-70-15 record. However, the first game, often played in November, is frequently brutal.
Ok, I’m especially thinking of the November 4, 2014 game against the Canucks. It was a 5-2 game. That was the one in which the Colorado Avalanche got booed off the ice.
Last season the Colorado Avalanche didn’t play the Canucks until February. They dropped at 3-1 game at home then traveled to get trounced 5-1 in Vancouver.
Last season, goalie Semyon Varlamov was in net for all three games. (They won finally in Vancouver in March.) Varlamov was also in net for the 5-2 stinker the previous season.
It may seem premature to say that the Colorado Avalanche are in a must-win situation in November. After all, the team is just 19 games into its season — plenty of hockey left, right?
Well, general wisdom holds that whatever the standings are after Thanksgiving, the teams in the playoff run will still be playoff bound come spring.
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At 9-10-0, Colorado is dead last in the Central Division and 12 out of 14 in the Western Conference.
Naturally, the season started late this year. So, let’s give them a couple extra weeks. Plus, the Avalanche have games in hand — some western teams have played as many as 23 games already.
No matter how you slice it, though, that makes the game against the Vancouver Canucks a must-win for the Colorado Avalanche. Five points separate them from the last wild card berth, though the team holding it (Dallas) has played three more games than Colorado.
The Avalanche have a pretty decent schedule coming up. After Vancouver, they host the Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars. That gives the team the opportunity to recoup some Western Conference points.
They then have something of a rough road stretch, playing every other day from December 6 to 11. The Avs face three Eastern Conference teams plus the Nashville Predators.
The Vancouver Canucks is one of the few Western Conference teams lower on the totem pole than the Colorado Avalanche. Again, that makes this game pretty much a must-win.
The bad news is that captain Gabriel Landeskog is still out with his lower body injury. The good news is that Calvin Pickard is getting the start. Semyon Varlamov is out with an “upper body injury” — either the groin got reclassified as upper body, or he’s finally injured something new.
Anyway, Colorado has to come out strong tonight, stay strong during the second period and PLAY STRONG THE FINAL PERIOD NO MATTER THE SCORE!
The Colorado Avalanche have to start climbing up the standings ladder. Otherwise, they’re going to be outside looking in come spring yet again.
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