Avalanche at Sharks
The Colorado Avalanche are in a bit of a defensive funk as they continue their three-game west coast trip Sunday against the San Jose Sharks. Colorado lost 6-3 to Vancouver on Friday after a 4-3 overtime setback at home to Anaheim on Wednesday, marking the most goals it has allowed in a two-game span this season.
The Avalanche, though, remain in excellent playoff shape as they sit second in the Central - two points behind division-leading St. Louis and six ahead of third-place Dallas with a game in hand on each. "We've dug in and we're within two points of St. Louis now, and that's pretty good work," Colorado coach Jared Bednar told the media. "We had an opportunity to be tied for first if we won (Friday), and we didn't get the job done. Hopefully, we have that opportunity a few more times here down the stretch." San Jose fell to 3-1-1 on its six-game homestand with a 2-1 overtime loss to Ottawa on Saturday despite 36 saves by Aaron Dell. The Avalanche defeated the Sharks 4-0 on Jan. 16 in the first meeting since San Jose ousted Colorado last season in the second round of the playoffs in seven games.
TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (40-19-8): Colorado has a pair of struggling defensemen in Ian Cole, who played a season-low 8 minutes, 46 seconds Friday because of ineffective play and Nikita Zadorov, who was a healthy scratch after he was a minus-3 in 7 minutes, 58 seconds of playing time of a 4-3 overtime loss to Anaheim on Wednesday. "If guys are having a tough night, you can't keep playing them,'' Bednar told the media. Points are too crucial." Nathan MacKinnon has five of his team-high 90 points in the last three games, including his 34th goal of the season, while Gabriel Landeskog is riding a seven-game point streak (four goals, six assists).
ABOUT THE SHARKS (29-34-5): Evander Kane scored his team-leading 25th goal Saturday, giving him four tallies in the last four games. Brent Burns leads the club with 45 points after recording an assist versus Ottawa for his 694th career point. Martin Jones is expected in goal and is 10-4-1 lifetime versus the Avalanche despite a 2.93 goals-against average and .896 save percentage.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado D Cale Makar (upper body) did not travel with the team, meaning the Calder Trophy contender will miss at least five straight games before the club hosts the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
2. San Jose D Nikolai Knyzhov made his NHL debut Saturday, playing 11:48.
3. The Avalanche on Friday allowed two power-play goals after killing off 24 consecutive opportunities over its previous 10 games while the Sharks boast the NHL's top penalty-killing unit at 86.6 percent.