NHL Game Preview - Colorado at Vancouver

Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:00 PM EST

The Colorado Avalanche were powerless in their last game.

The Avalanche had a three-game winning streak snapped Thursday night with a 6-2 loss at Edmonton.

Connor McDavid had a career-high six points, including his second hat trick in three games, and Leon Draisaitl added five assists as Edmonton went 4 for 6 with the man advantage while holding Colorado scoreless on five power plays.

The Avalanche (11-6-2) will look to get back to their winning ways Saturday when they continue their five-game trip with a stop in Vancouver (10-7-3).

"Their best players had a night (Thursday), and we didn't," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I just didn't think we were very good. Not tight enough with our checking, and just didn't seem to have the drive that we needed to win this one."

Andre Burakovsky scored twice for the Avalanche, but goaltender Adam Werner was pulled from his first NHL start midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 18 shots. Antoine Bibeau replaced Werner and stopped nine of 10 shots. Bibeau was playing in his third NHL game and first since Dec. 29, 2016, while with Toronto.

"We had some looks that we couldn't take advantage off," Burakovsky said. "I think overall, we have to be better. We talked about it before the game, that we have to be hard on those top six (guys) on the other team, and I think we showed too much respect or whatever."

The Avalanche could get some help as defenseman Nikita Zadorov is scheduled to meet the team in Vancouver. Zadorov has been out the past week after surgery for a broken jaw. Bednar said goalie Pavel Francouz is feeling better after being in concussion protocol after a collision Tuesday in Winnipeg and fellow goalie Philipp Grubauer (lower-body injury) has participated in the morning skate for three consecutive days.

The Canucks lost 4-2 on Thursday to visiting Dallas, dropping them to 1-4-1 in their past six games.

"You can't turn the puck over against them in the neutral zone or offensive zone -- they'll go the other way in a hurry. They made us pay for it," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "I don't think we had a lot of guys who were great (Thursday) or a lot of guys who were terrible, it was that kind of a night. We knew it was going to be a grinding game. They took over when they got the lead and they had the puck at both ends of the rink."

Jake Virtanen and Troy Stecher scored for the Canucks and Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves.

The Canucks were 0 for 3 on the power play after having gone 3 for 3 in their previous game, a 5-3 victory against Nashville on Tuesday that snapped a four-game winless streak.

"It's a huge learning curve for us," Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. "We're going to get the other team's best penalty killers and they're watching videos and watching our tendencies. To be good in this league, you have to find a way to be consistent."

--Field Level Media