The Vancouver Canucks (15-9-5) close out a six-game homestand when they play host to the NHL’s leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche (18-14-0) at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 5-1 loss to Boston on Saturday, while the Avs come in following a 5-2 win over Nashville.

What we saw

11 skaters and three goalies took to the ice for an optional morning skate. 
Upset with his team’s performance in the lopsided loss to Boston, Rick Tocchet is making a number of changes to his lineup for tonight’s game against Colorado. Rookie Max Sasson, who scored his first NHL goal on Saturday, is being promoted into a top six role for the first time and will skate alongside Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. Sasson has three points in his past two games and has a goal and four assists in his first 10 NHL outings. Conor Garland, who bumped up the line-up in the first period on Saturday, will once again skate on a line with JT Miller and Brock Boser. Pius Suter will centre Danton Heinen and former Av Kiefer Sherwood while Teddy Blueger has Dakota Joshua and Nils Höglander as his linemates to start the game.
On the blueline, captain Quinn Hughes.will partner with Noah Juulsen while Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers are reunited. Erik Brännström and Vincent Desharnais will form the third pair tonight. Derek Forbort will miss his second straight game with the flu while Mark Friedman is a healthy scratch.
Thatcher Demko will start consecutive games for the first time this season. He allowed five goals on 28 shots against the Bruins and is 0-1-1 in his two starts since returning from a knee injury last week. With Kevin Lankinen battling the flu, Arturs Silovs will back up once again.
The Canucks are 2-2-1 through the first five games of this homestand beating Columbus and Florida, losing in regulation to Tampa Bay and Boston and suffering an overtime setback against St. Louis. They have trailed by multiple goals at some point in four of the five games. 
Elias Pettersson has one goal in his last eight games while Conor Garland has one in his last seven. JT Miller, who stepped back and missed 10 games on a personal leave, has two goals in the past 12 games he’s played – both have been into empty nets. 

The opponent

The Avs arrive on a roll having won four of their last five games. Newly acquired MacKenzie Blackwood made 37 saves in his Colorado debut posting a 5-2 win over Nashville on Saturday. Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist to push his season total to a league best 50 points. He leads the NHL in both assists (37) and points. MacKinnon has four goals and five assists in his last three games.
Mikko Rantanen had three assists on Saturday and is tied for third in league scoring with 46 points. Like MacKinnon, Rantanen has nine points in his past three outings.
Cale Makar leads all NHL defencemen with 37 points – three more than Quinn Hughes. The Avs blueliner has played three more games. Beyond the big three – MacKinnon (50), Rantanen (46) and Makar (37) – Casey Mittelstadt is next on the team with 22 points and is the only other player on the roster with more than 16.
With the addition of Blackwood from San Jose, the Avalanche has now used six goalies and five different starters already this season.
Colorado dropped its first four games of the season, but has gone 18-10 in the 28 games since. The Avs are 10-6 on the road this season.
Colorado swept the three-game season series from the Canucks last season although Vancouver did salvage a single point with an overtime loss. The Avs will be back for a game on February 4th while the teams will meet in Denver on April 10th.
Tonight’s referees: Brandon Blandina & Chris Rooney
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on state of his team heading into showdown with the Avs: “What are we? 5-3-2 in last 10? It’s not horrible. We just need some guys to play more consistently. There’s no secret to it.”
Quinn Hughes believes Canucks will respond to coach’s criticism: “I think so. I think that everyone probably after a night like that needs to evaluate their own game. And then on a team basis, we did that yesterday before practice. We have a lot of competitors in here and I’m sure people want to bring their A game tonight.”
JT Miller on bouncing back from poor team performance against Bruins: “Just having a good start to the game. I think we always respond well. We talked alot about that last year and I have confidence we’re going to be ready to play today. Obviously, it’s a fun team to play, they’ve got some really talented players. So we have to be at our best.”
Conor Garland after praising JT Miller’s many on-ice abilities was asked if there’s anything his linemate can’t do: “(big pause) He can’t putt.”
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