AVALANCHE		CANUCKS
	AT

Oh hey! The Canucks are playing another team with an atrocious power play! Don't worry Avalanche fans, we allowed the Kings to score their first power play goal of the season on Monday night, so we may be able to help you out. Or not.

The Canucks get a day off between their semi-successful California road trip and this one. Not a lot of time off lately.

I call this post "Domination" because that is exactly what the Canucks did to the Avs last season, winning all 6 games. But this isn't last year's Canucks. We are missing 2 of our top 6 forwards in Ryan Kesler and David "Unproven" Booth. There is not a lot of consistent scoring beyond the Sedins-Kassian top line.

Colorado is worse off than us. Check it out. Wow, what happened to the mighty Paul Stastny? Speaking of Avs issues, they are playing hardball in negotiations with their leading scorer from last season: Super Kid Ryan O'Reilly.

We could be hearing the name Michael Sgarbossa a lot in this one. He was called up today to fill in the forward ranks because Gabriel Landeskog was destroyed by Brad Stuart recently. (See video below).

PROJECTED ROSTERS / LINES

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 217

Born: Apr 04, 1979

Sedin - Sedin - Kassian

Higgins - Burrows - Hansen

Raymond - Schroeder - Weise

Lapierre - Malhotra - Weise

Bieksa - Hamhuis

Edler - Garrison

Ballard - Tanev

Semyon Varlamov

#1 / Goalie / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-2

Weight: 209

Born: Apr 27, 1988

Landeskog Sgarbossa (recalled, Jan.29) - Duchene - Parenteau

McGinn - Stastny - Jones

Kobasew - Mitchell - Hejduk

McLeod - Olver - Bordeleau

Johnson - Wilson

O'Byrne - Hejda

Zanon (check out the beard!) - Barrie

Shane O'Brien cannot crack the lineup. True story.

TRENDS

• Avalanche are 6-1 in their last 7 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of less than .400.
• Avalanche are 21-10 in their last 31 when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Avalanche are 16-39 in their last 55 vs. Northwest.
• Avalanche are 3-9 in their last 12 overall.
• Avalanche are 2-6 in their last 8 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Avalanche are 3-9 in their last 12 vs. Western Conference.
• Avalanche are 2-7 in their last 9 games playing on 1 days rest.
• Avalanche are 1-6 in their last 7 road games.
• Avalanche are 0-4 in their last 4 games following a loss of 3 or more goals.
• Canucks are 16-6 in their last 22 when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Canucks are 8-3 in their last 11 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Canucks are 8-3 in their last 11 Wednesday games.
• Canucks are 3-8 in their last 11 vs. Western Conference.
• Canucks are 1-5 in their last 6 vs. a team with a losing record.
• Canucks are 1-5 in their last 6 home games.
• Do these stats instill confidence in you? More at Covers.com.

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS

raincity: 3

andrew21nz: 2

Meat Mayos: 2

patrik e (loves Booth): 2

westy99: 2

beardstache: 1

KYCanuck: 1

marcness52: 1

radepalma: 1

Thursday: 1

Vancouverguy: 1

VIDEO

The Avs will be without Gabriel Landeskog because of this:

Here the play by play guy whining about the fighting after the hit? Shut the fuck up! Always stick up for your buddies, kids. And don't listen to these morons.

Peter Forsberg / Markus Naslund commercial:

Speaking of Forsberg: Diver Extraordinaire, makes Kesler look like Mr. Integrity Of The Year:

Joe Sakic and Trevor Linden score hat tricks in the same playoff game (1996):

The title of this game preview post has been brought to you by Pantera:

GO CANUCKS GO!