Vancouver Canucks: 3 keys to victory over the Avalanche

Coming off a 6-1 thrashing of the Boston Bruins, the Vancouver Canucks will look to play spoiler against the playoff-hopeful Colorado Avalanche. Here are three ways the Canucks can defeat their former Northwest Division foes.

The Vancouver Canucks may be at the bottom of the NHL standings, but they sure know how to play like a legitimate champion from time to time. For those of you who missed it, this rebuilding squad completely dominated the red-hot Boston Bruins on Saturday night, crushing them with a 6-1 victory.

Head coach Travis Green has found some crafty ways to expose the flaws of Cup contenders. Remember, this is a team that pulled off a season series sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ve also beaten other contenders like the Minnesota Wild (twice), Washington Capitals, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators and others.

So the visiting Colorado Avalanche will want to be careful when it comes to underestimating their opponents.

Sven Baertschi scored the game-winner in overtime when these teams faced off on Jan. 30. Can the Canucks upset the Avs on home ice again? If so, they’ll have to follow these three keys to victory.

Throw the weight around

In case you didn’t know, the Bruins bulldozed their way through the Canucks in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Vancouver didn’t have the players to stand up to Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand or Milan Lucic. They had to take the punishment, and couldn’t really fight back.

But the Canucks played with plenty of energy on Saturday, and guys like Erik Gudbranson and Darren Archibald wore down the B’s by dishing out big hits. Marchand was clearly rattled and couldn’t get his game going. Vancouver kept Boston’s top line scoreless in the night.

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The Avalanche are built like Boston. They’re not big, but they’re speedy, skilled and rely on the footwork of their blueliners (Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson), in the transition game. And how do you stop speed? You hit ’em hard.

The Canucks need Gudbranson, Archibald and others to play physical again. This is how you counter against a team with superior talent and wheels. Follow the same blue print that was there on Saturday.

Protect the net

The Avalanche have one of the league’s most lethal scoring units in the league. Eight different players have scored double-digit goals.

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They have the star playmaker in Nate MacKinnon, plus supreme finishers in Gabriel Landeskog, Alex Kerfoot and Mikko Rantanen.

MacKinnon loves to rush the puck along the boards until he finds somebody in front. Landeskog and Rantanen can shoot from absolutely anywhere. The Avalanche just have too many scorers up front, and it’s tough to defend against their attack.

For the Canucks, they’ll have to protect anything down low. Force the Avalanche to work the puck along the boards and to the point. They need to stay down near the net and force Colorado to get the garbage goals.

It’s easier said than done, but it’s easily their biggest key to victory here. The Canucks have to be extra conservative in their own end when Colorado has the puck. It’s as simple as that.

Win the special teams battle

One of the few positives for the Canucks in 2017-18 would be their power play, as the importance Newell Brown’s return can’t be emphasized enough. The man advantage unit has been up-and-down throughout the season. But the Canucks power play unit is working at a 20.9 percent rate, good for 12th in the NHL, per the league’s official site.

But scoring against the Avalanche while up a man isn’t easy. They own the league’s fourth-best penalty kill at 83.3 percent. The Canucks only scored on one of their four power play opportunities against Colorado in the Jan. 30 meeting.

The Canucks will simply have to take advantage of their power play opportunities. If they can’t break the Avs’ shutdown penalty kill unit, then winning gets all the tougher. You have to take advantage of these rare chances when you get them, especially against a team like Colorado.

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Expect the special teams to once again determine the outcome of this game. That’s why the Canucks need to win this one.