No Evander Kane tonight vs. Colorado. #Canucks forward has been managing an injury for the last large handful of games, Adam Foote says, with an eye toward playing in his 1000th game. Joseph draws in for Mancini, Sasson for Kane.
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Scenes from morning skate: Lankinen starts, Kane sits as Canucks face league-leading Avalanche
Photo credit: © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Apr 1, 2026, 13:45 EDTUpdated: Apr 1, 2026, 13:41 EDT
The Vancouver Canucks (21-44-8) face the toughest test in hockey these days when they take on the league-leading Colorado Avalanche (49-14-10) at Ball Arena in Denver. Tonight’s game is set to begin at 5:30pm PT . There is a 58-point gap in the standings and a 188-goal chasm in goal differential separating the first-place team from the league’s 32nd-place franchise.
What we saw
One game after reaching the 1,000 game mark in Las Vegas, veteran winger Evander Kane will sit out tonight. Victor Mancini will also come out of the line-up. That makes room for both Max Sasson and P-O Joseph to draw back in to uniform.
The Canucks are expected to keep Elias Pettersson on a line with Liam Öhgren and Jake DeBrusk while Marco Rossi centres a line with Drew O’Connor and Brock Boeser. Teddy Blueger will line up with Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson while Aatu Räty skates in the middle on a fourth line with Nils Höglander and Curtis Douglas.
Kevin Lankinen starts for the seventh time in eight games tonight. He made 30 saves in a 4-2 loss in Vegas on Monday. With a relief appearance on Saturday in Calgary, Lankinen has played in nine of the team’s last 11 games.
Kane and Brock Boeser scored the Vancouver goals on Monday. For Boeser, it was his team leading 18th of the season. He has six goals in his last 13 games.
Five of the Canucks last nine goals have come on the power play and the team is seven for its last 18 with the man advantage (38.9%) over the past seven games. The flip side of that statistic is that the club has scored just four 5-on-5 goals in its last five outings.
Overall, the Canucks have dropped six straight games all in regulation and they are now 1-11-1 in their last 13 road games.
A loss of any kind tonight will secure the top odds in the May 5th NHL Draft Lottery.
The Opponent
The Avs are coming off a 9-2 demolition of Calgary on Monday. It was a game that saw Colorado jump out to a 5-0 lead with a 26-9 edge in shots after 20 minutes. Five Avalanche skaters had three point nights and four others hit the scoresheet twice. Colorado has won five of its last six games.
Nathan MacKinnon scored his league-best 49th goal of the season against the Flames. MacKinnon sits third in overall league scoring with 120 points. He leads the NHL with 318 shots and is a league best +56 on the season. He is bidding for his second 50-goal campaign in the past three years. He scored a career-best 51 in 2023-24.
Martin Necas has 35 goals while Brock Nelson has 33. That gives Colorado three of the top 25-goal scorers in the league. With MacKinnon, Necas and Cale Makar, the Avs have three of the top 24 point producers in the NHL this season. Makar, however, will not play tonight. He was injured in the second period of Monday’s win against Calgary and is expected to miss a few games.
Coach Bednar says he plans to put Kulak and Manson on a pair together as far as tonight’s submitted starting lineup goes. Everyone shuffles around on the back end anyway, but he wants to give them a look to start. Says he plans to keep Toews and Malinski together.
The Avs are the best offensive team in the NHL while also being the best defensive squad. They average 3.75 goals per game while holding opponents to an average of 2.45 per outing.
At home this season, Colorado is 24-7-5. The Avs will be wearing their Quebec Nordiques alternate jerseys tonight.
Mackenzie Blackwood gets the start in goal for Colorado. Veteran defenceman Brent Burns will participate in his 1571st NHL game tonight and, incredibly, his 999th consecutive contest. Tonight will be his 85th career match-up against the Canucks.
News and notes
The Avs have defeated the Canucks in their two meetings this season. They posted a 5-4 overtime win on November 9th at Rogers Arena and a 3-1 victory in Denver on December 2nd.
The referees for tonight’s game are Tom Chmieleski and Justin Kea. This will be the ninth Canucks assignment for Chmielewski – more than any other referee in the league.
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