Avalanche at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks attempt to post back-to-back victories for the first time this month when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. San Jose has not won consecutive games since capturing six in a row from Nov. 21-Dec. 3, going 3-5-1 in its last nine contests. The Sharks put themselves in position for a winning streak with a 3-2 shootout triumph over visiting Dallas on Saturday in which they rallied from a two-goal deficit before captain Joe Thornton netted the lone tally in the fifth round of the bonus format.
Colorado dropped a 3-2 shootout decision at Los Angeles on Saturday after bouncing back from a two-goal deficit on power-play tallies by defenseman Erik Johnson and Ryan O'Reilly. The Avalanche have earned points in five of their last six games (3-1-2) but also haven't posted consecutive wins in December. Colorado has won only one of its last four road contests (1-2-1) and faces a difficult task in defeating San Jose, which owns a 12-1-3 mark on home ice.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Altitude2 (Colorado), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (23-10-2): Matt Duchene appears to have rediscovered his offensive game. After recording just one goal and one assist in a 10-game span, the center has collected 12 points over his last six contests, registering multi-point performances in five of those games - including each of the last four. Johnson also has been dangerous of late, scoring a goal in three of his last four contests.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (22-8-6): San Jose enters Monday's contest with an eight-game point streak at home (7-0-1). The club's lone regulation loss at SAP Center this season came on Nov. 7, when it dropped a 4-2 decision to Vancouver. Logan Couture is in the midst of a five-game point drought that has left him stuck on 99 goals and 98 assists in his career.
OVERTIME
1. Six of Colorado's last 12 goals have been scored by its defensemen, who have tallied in four straight games.
2. Thornton is 15 points away from tying Bobby Hull (1,170) for 48th place on the all-time list and six assists shy of matching Alex Delvecchio (825) for 25th in NHL history.
3. Avalanche D Jan Hejda's next game will be the 500th of his NHL career.