Can the Canucks finally beat the Avalanche?

The Vancouver Canucks finally ended one losing streak in their most recent game. Another victory on Sunday would end an even longer skid.

The Canucks will look to snap a seven-game slide against the Colorado Avalanche as they continue their longest road trip of the season with a visit to their Northwest Division rivals. -Canucks.com

Yeah, it's been that long. The Avs beat us 2-1 in a shootout on November 12th, and Peter Budaj outplayed Luongo. The only goals that beat him were Pyatt's penalty shot and a Burrows shootout attempt.
I watched the Stars-Avalanche game on Friday and there is little to suggest that Budaj is going to suffer a meltdown tonight. But you never know. The Avs have lost 2 straight and 3 of their last 5.
The Avs have struggled to score goals this year. They are last in the Western Conference in goals for. As the NHL.com preview puts it:

While the Canucks cope without Luongo, the Avs have also been dealing with injuries, as veterans Joe Sakic, Adam Foote and Darcy Tucker all remain out.

That certainly hasn't helped Colorado's offense, which ranks last in the Western Conference with 2.42 goals per game. The Avs have scored either one or zero goals in seven of their last 13 games.

I hope tonight is one of those scoreless nights for Colorado. It's tough to believe when you consider how well they continually play against us. At the same time, the Avs are in the bottom 10 in the NHL in most stat categories.We should be eating these guys for dinner.

-Let's see if Cory Schneider can match his performance from last game.
-Let's see if Pavol Demitra can register a point. I believe it has been 5 games now since that has happened. Even though pointless, I like him on the Sedin line. It's just a matter of time before he cashes in.
-Can Jason Jaffray repeat his performance from last game, scoring the winning goal and getting into a nasty fight? That was great stuff from Jaffray, a guy I have been rooting for for a long time.
If the Canucks beat the Avalanche in regulation tonight, they will increase the point gap between the 2 teams to 9 points. That would be splendid. But more importantly, it would be great to see the Canucks just beat the Avs period, since we have had such a hard time doing that.


T Tags: Canucks Avalanche game+preview December+7+2008