Sharks at Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche have already exceeded last season's point total (48) and are riding their longest winning streak in 12 years as they host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. Colorado defeated Anaheim 3-1 on Monday afternoon for its seventh straight victory - its most since winning eight in a row from Dec. 31, 2005 to Jan. 17, 2006 - with All-Star Nathan MacKinnon continuing his assault on opposing goaltenders.
"We've got to keep our button on the play button," MacKinnon told reporters Monday after scoring in his third consecutive game, giving him a team-best 20. "For us, it's so tight, we can't get comfortable. ... We still have 39 games left, so we have to stay hungry." The Avalanche, whose six-game home winning streak is their longest since an eight-game run in 2011-12, trail Los Angeles and Minnesota by two points in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Colorado is three points behind San Jose, which sits in a virtual tie for second in the Pacific Division after a 3-2 shootout victory in Arizona on Tuesday. "The wins are good,'' captain Joe Pavelski told reporters after the Sharks won their third straight game. "You slide back in (to the playoffs) but there’s no room for a breath right now. All these games are important.”
TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS California (San Jose), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (24-13-6): Brent Burns (club-worst minus-17) will be hard-pressed to win his second straight Norris Trophy but leads the team and is third among NHL defensemen in points with 34, including 22 (six goals) in the last 17 games. Joe Thornton (11 goals, 32 points) is heating up by scoring in three consecutive games and has 1,423 career points - two shy of Bryan Trottier for 16th all-time in the NHL. Logan Couture (team-high 17 goals in 39 games) also has 32 points - six in his last five contests, but only four of his goals have come in the last 17 games.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (24-16-3): MacKinnon is tied for third in the NHL with 54 points after totaling 14 (five goals) during a seven-game point streak. MacKinnon's linemates - Mikko Rantanen (15 goals, 41 points) and Gabe Landeskog (16, 33) - are the next-highest scorers on the team, but Landeskog has only two assists in five January games while Rantanen has been kept off the scoresheet in the last two contests. Jonathan Bernier (11-7-1, 2.67 goals-against average, .915 save percentage) has started the last four games since taking over for the injured Semyon Varlamov during a 3-2 overtime victory over Winnipeg on Jan. 2, posting a .961 SP in January.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado has allowed only two power-play goals in the last 16 games, killing 47 penalties during that span, while San Jose is 5-for-11 on the power play in its past five contests.
2. Avalanche LW J.T. Compher (seven goals, team-worst minus-15 in 31 games) will probably return to the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury.
3. San Jose swept last season's two-game series in a three-day span - 3-2 at home in overtime and 5-2 at Colorado on Jan. 23. Patrick Marleau of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four of the Sharks' goals.