Despite missing the morning skate because of illness, Calvin Pickard is expected to make his fourth start of the season Tuesday night in San Jose in the Avalanche's first game of a back-to-back swing in California.
Coach Patrick Roy told the Denver Post that Pickard should be good to go.
"Pick's going to be fine," he said. "He already said he was feeling better. He just needs some fluid in his body. He should be ready for tonight's game."
Erik Johnson and Mikhail Grigorenko also missed the skate because of illness.
"What we're going to do is bring the 23 guys to the game tonight and we'll see who's feeling good or not," Roy told the newspaper.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
Complicating matters, Semyon Varlamov isn't with the team because he's involved in a Denver District Court civil case filed against him by his former girlfriend. It began Monday, preventing him from accompanying the team to San Jose or going to Los Angeles for Wednesday's game. Pickard will start against the Kings.
Frankly, I had forgotten about the civil suit, which stems from the domestic abuse charges from two years ago that were dismissed by the Denver district attorney.
Here's the updated CIVIL SUIT story.
With Varlamov unavailable, the Avalanche called up Roman Will from San Antonio to suit up as Pickard's backup. Will has a 6-5-2 record, 3.38 goals-against average and .895 save percentage with the Rampage.
The Sharks are on a 7-0-2 roll and coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Kings on Sunday. Joe Thornton has two goals and 10 assists in a nine-game scoring streak. Goalie Martin Jones has allowed 15 goals in a 6-0-1 streak.
Pickard has a 2-1-0 record with one shutout, a 2.40 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. He had 35 saves against the Sharks on Dec. 28 in a 6-3 road win. In his most recent start, he made 19 saves in a 2-1 loss at Columbus on Jan. 16.