The San Jose Sharks can extend their winning streak to three with a win at Pepsi Center tonight against the Nathan MacKinnon-less Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado is scuffling a bit. They are 1-1-1 without their top scorer and 1-3-1 in the last five games overall. MacKinnon is out a week or more with an upper body injury. He's exploded offensively since the Matt Duchene trade. The 22-year-old had 61 points (24g 37a) in 49 games before he got hurt. The Sharks must take advantage of this opportunity.
San Jose knows all too well that winning sans one of your best scorers can be difficult to navigate. The teal and black lost four in a row without Joe Thornton before stringing a couple "W's" together.
At 28-16-8, they are second in the Pacific Division with 64 points and the way the rest of the divisions is playing, second place is San Jose's for the taking. They need to stay the course and it will happen. The Avalanche (28-18-4) are sixth in the Central Division with 60 points - one point away from the second wildcard spot in the West.
San Jose's defense is coming back around. They've held the opponent to one goal in each of the last three games. That's a stark contrast to the previous three in which they allowed a total of 16 goals against. The Hurricanes game this past Sunday was their most complete effort in weeks. They can build off that with another solid 60 minutes tonight.
The Avalanche were held scorless in their last game. This matchup should favor San Jose, but you just never know in this league. Just when you think you have it figured out, it smacks you back down to earth with something wacky.
Sharks vs. Avalanche
What to watch for...
- At some point Joonas Donskoi has to wake up. He's second among forwards in chance 5v5 to Kevin Labanc. Unlike Labanc, it's not showing up on the scoresheet. The 25-year-old has two assists in his last eight games. Not good enough for a guy that we thought turned a corner this season.
- Speaking of Labanc - He's heating up. The New York native have nine points (3g 6a) in his last nine games.
- These teams are on opposite ends of the spectrum at even strength. The visitorss are near the bottom of the league in goals scored at even strength with 100. The home team is bubbling near the top ten with 118.
- As with most games, the team that wins the special teams battle, wins the game. San Jose's 4th ranked PP (23.73%) will go toe-to-toe with the Avalanche's 3rd ranked (83.83%) penalty kill. That may be a push. Where the Sharks have a light edge is with their penalty kill. That second ranked penalty kill (84.28%) will be expected to hold Colorado's 13th ranked power play (20.63%) off the board.
We shall see. The puck drops 6 PST.
Thanks for reading, Steve