After dropping their first game of this short homestand to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks welcomed the Colorado Avalanche to Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. Again without their captain, Quinn Hughes, hockey fans were deprived of a matchup between two of the frontrunners for the Norris Trophy this season. The Avalanche still had their representative Cale Makar in the lineup and were looking for a third-straight shutout victory after blanking the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues 2-0 and 5-0 on Sunday and Friday respectively.
The Canucks were able to break that streak and give the Avalanche a taste of their own medicine, shutting them out 3-0. Thatcher Demko got his first clean sheet of the season as he got goal support from Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser before newcomer Drew O’Connor salted the game away into an empty net.
Game Recap
The first period was largely dominated by the Avalanche, but they couldn’t get one by Demko. With some help from his friends the post – the Avalanche hit three of them – Demko escaped the first without a goal against. In addition to those strikes of iron, the Avalanche also out-chanced the Canucks 10-3 (5-1 high-danger). Basically, the Canucks were lucky to end the period still tied at zero.
The Avalanche’s shutout streak was finally snapped in the second period. DeBrusk opened the scoring for the Canucks and gave the Avs their first goal against since Simon Holmstrom’s empty-netter on Jan. 28. After Filip Hronek’s shot was stopped by Blackwood, DeBrusk used some great hand-eye coordination to knock down the puck and quickly finesse it into the net for his team-leading 19th of the season. Apart from a Harlem Globetrotter-esque sequence for the Avalanche’s star trio of Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Martin Necas where Demko made several highlight-reel stops, the Canucks flipped the script in the second period and wound up outshooting the Avalanche 15-11 and out-chancing them 13-11 (5-1 high-danger), entering the intermission with a 1-0 lead.
The Canucks increased their lead to two at the 8:20 mark of the third period when Boeser notched his 70th career power play goal, passing Pavel Bure in the process. His 17th gave his team a 2-0 lead, something they wouldn’t relinquish, and only add an empty netter to, despite having a lengthy 5-on-3 in the dying minutes of the game. O’Connor scored into the empty net with nine seconds left in regulation to break the Canucks’ brief two-game losing streak and give the Avalanche their first goals against in February.
Goalie Matchup
- Blackwood stopped 28 of 30 shots in defeat, falling to 12-6-2 since becoming a member of the Avalanche.
- Demko notched his first shutout since returning from injury and looked as close to Vezina caliber as he has all season, stopping all 25 shots he faced. He improved to 5-6-3.
What’s Next For the Canucks & Avalanche?
Both teams are in action on Thursday as the Canucks head south to take on the San Jose Sharks in a one-and-done road trip while the Avalanche travel to Calgary to take on the Flames.
