The Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night 3-1. The Avs finally played a complete game, but more importantly came out in the third period with lots of energy and shut Vancouver down.

Newcomer Mikkel Boedker came out and scored his first multi-goal game for the Avalanche. Boedker scored his first goal in the first period of the game, number 15 to tie the game up 1-1. Jerome Iginla and Matt Duchene assisted on the goal and the Avalanche never looked back. After a quiet second period where neither team scored, Boedker came out in the third and scored :37 seconds into the period for his 16th of the season. The goal would turn out to be the game winner. Nathan MacKinnon assisted on the goal for his 30th of the year.

Also playing a great game was Andreas Martinsen. Martinsen who was a healthy scratch by Patrick Roy after falling off from a hot start, has come back and scored twice since being put back in the lineup. Andreas came out for his shift in the third, showed his strength by driving to the front of the net, and scored his fourth goal of the season, showing he’s more than just a big body who can hit hard. Shawn Matthias would get the loan assist on the goal.

The most important part of this game was the Avalanche playing solid defensively and goalie Semyon Varlamov playing as well as the Avalanche need him to. The Avs as a team allowed 29 shots with Varly stopping all but one.

Without their captain and star player Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche have won both games. Landeskog still has one more game in his three game suspension that he earned after cross-checking an opposing player in the head. Landeskog himself called the play very, very dumb, but luckily for the Avs it hasn’t caused them any losses. It is important to see a team come out and still win without one of their best players and that is exactly what the Avs have done. Players have stepped up their game, Martinsen, Boedker, and others are really playing like they need to. If the Avalanche can come out and win again without Landeskog, when he comes back it’ll boost an already competitive team.

The Avalanche play Friday in Calgary against a struggling Flames team, but that doesn’t make them any less of a threat. The Avs need to come out and win the game to stay ahead of Minnesota for the final wild card spot. Minnesota does have a game in hand against the Avs and are only one point out, so winning each and every game is imperative for Colorado.

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