Sharks at Avalanche
Although San Jose boasts an impressive 11-game home point streak, the Sharks try to end the Colorado Avalanche's six-game stretch (4-0-2) in Denver when they meet Saturday afternoon. The Sharks improved to 10-0-1 at home with a 5-1 triumph over Edmonton on Thursday. Logan Couture and Bracken Kearns extended their goal-scoring streaks to three games as San Jose recorded its fifth win in six contests.
Former Shark Jamie McGinn tallied for the third time in five contests as Colorado skated to a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Thursday to improve to 2-0-1 on its seven-game homestand. McGinn also tallied in the Avalanche's first meeting with the Sharks on Dec. 23, but Joe Pavelski answered with 20 seconds remaining in the third period of San Jose's eventual 5-4 shootout victory. Semyon Varlamov turned aside 41 shots in that contest as part of his current 5-0-4 stretch of decisions.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, CSN California (San Jose), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (26-9-6): Captain Joe Thornton pushed his assist streak to six games with a pair on Thursday and is six points shy of tying Bobby Hull (1,170) for 48th place on the all-time list. The veteran notched three of the 10 assists he's recorded in the stretch during San Jose's shootout victory over Colorado. Pavelski celebrated being named to the United States Olympic Team for the second straight Winter Games by collecting a goal and an assist against Edmonton.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (25-11-4): Ryan O'Reilly tallied for the second straight game on Thursday and also notched two assists versus the Sharks last month. Gabriel Landeskog assisted on the tally by O'Reilly to extend his point streak to five games. The captain has collected three goals and three assists in the stretch, which started with a tally against San Jose.
OVERTIME
1. Couture netted the decisive goal in the shootout against Colorado last month.
2. The Avalanche failed to score on two power-play opportunities versus Philadelphia after tallying on all three chances in a 5-3 victory over Columbus on Tuesday.
3. San Jose G Antti Niemi made 29 saves in the teams' previous meeting to improve his career mark to 7-1-3 versus Colorado.