The Vancouver Canucks will play with a renewed sense of joy when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.
The Canucks hope to avoid a third straight loss after their roster underwent a dramatic makeover following two trades on Friday, including one that sent last season’s top scorer, J.T. Miller, to the New York Rangers.
The Avalanche added Jack Drury and Martin Necas on Jan. 24 after shipping their top goal scorer, Mikko Rantanen, to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Filip Chytil, Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor made their debuts for Vancouver in its 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit on Sunday.
“There is a lot of smiling, a lot of excitement,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said after Sunday’s contest. “There was a freshness from the guys who are excited to be here.
“Now it is kind of OK, we got the trades over, and this is our team.
“Let’s start at zero, even for the guys who have struggled this year. It is a time to just reset your brain, come out with a good attitude, work hard. Those are the type of things that are going to get you out of slumps.”
Chytil had an immediate impact, scoring an unassisted goal in the third period.
“(Chytil) was really good. He controlled the play and he wanted the puck,” Tocchet said. “He scored a big goal for us, so it was a good debut for him.”
Pius Suter also scored and Kevin Lankinen made 15 saves for Vancouver.
The Canucks hope to have star defenseman Quinn Hughes back in the lineup on Tuesday. He missed Sunday’s game with an unspecified injury.
If Hughes dresses, Tuesday’s clash would feature a battle between arguably the league’s two top offensive defensemen in Hughes and Colorado’s Cale Makar. Hughes won the Norris Trophy last season, while Makar was the league’s top defenseman in 2022.
Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood could be going for his third straight shutout if he starts against Vancouver.
Blackwood made 19 saves in a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Friday before turning aside all 24 shots he faced in a 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday in Denver.
“I try and play the same way day-in and day-out,” said Blackwood, who has consecutive shutouts for the third time in his career. “Over these last two games, we’ve done a tremendous job in the D-zone just playing the right way.”
Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Samuel Girard supplied the goals and Jonathan Drouin contributed two assists for Colorado, which swept its two-game homestand.
“I don’t think we’ve given up very many high-danger chances in the last couple of games,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We’ve done a nice job defending, and when we have a breakdown, (Blackwood) has been there.”
League scoring leader MacKinnon scored on the power play, becoming the first player to reach 80 points this season.
