San Jose Sharks Take On Colorado Avalanche in Saturday Matinee
By Eric He
On Saturday afternoon, the Sharks will take on the Colorado Avalanche on the road, facing a team that is also playoff-bound. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
After ripping off an impressive stretch of wins to begin the month of March, the San Jose Sharks have since come back down to Earth. They have lost three of their last four games, including a disappointing 4-3 loss at home to the Jets on Thursday.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sharks will take on the Colorado Avalanche on the road, facing a team that is also playoff-bound and looking to gain home-ice advantage in the first round.
San Jose, with 103 points, is only a point ahead of the Ducks, who have two games in hand on the Sharks. Meanwhile, the Colorado is a point behind Chicago for second place in the Central Division. Thus, while both teams can rest easy knowing they are in the postseason, they both have further goals to strive for.
The Avalanche are coming off a 3-2 win over the Canucks on Thursday night. They are led by Coach of the Year candidate Patrick Roy and young phenoms Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. Semyon Varlamov has also been terrific in net for the Avs.
Tale of the Tape
Sharks
- Goals for per game: 2.93 (7th)
- Goals against per game: 2.32 (4th)
- Shots per game: 34.8 (1st)
- Shots against per game: 27.8 (5th)
- Penalty minutes: 680 (5th)
- Power play percentage: 17.3% (19th)
- Penalty kill percentage: 84.5% (7th)
Avalanche:
- Goals for per game: 3.01 (6th)
- Goals against per game: 2.70 (15th)
- Shots per game: 29.3 (T-21st)
- Shots against per game: 32.6 (26th)
- Penalty minutes: 762 (12th)
- Power play percentage: 19.9% (9th)
- Penalty kill percentage: 80.0% (25th)
Top Performers
Sharks: Joe Pavelski (37 G, 35 A), Joe Thornton (11 G, 60 A), Patrick Marleau (31 G, 34 A)
Avalanche: Matt Duchene (22 G, 46 A), Gabriel Landeskog (23 G, 36 A), Ryan O’Reilly (26 G, 31 A)
Injury Report
Sharks: Tomas Hertl (knee) is on IR. Adam Burish (hand) is out. Raffi Torres (soreness) did not play on Thursday.
Avalanche: John Mitchell (back) has missed the past four games. PA Parenteau (knee) and Alex Tanguay (hip) are on injured reserve.
Probable Lines
SAN JOSE (47-19-9)
Forwards
Pavelski-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Kennedy-Wingels-Havlat
Brown-Desjardins-Sheppard
Defensemen
Vlasic-Demers
Irwin-Boyle
Stuart-Braun
Goalies
Niemi
Stalock
COLORADO (46-21-6)
Forwards
O’Reilly-Duchene-McGinn
Landeskog-Statsny-Mackinnon
Talbot-Mitchell-McLeod
Bordeleau-Malone-Cliche
Defensemen
Hejda-Johnson
Barrie-Holden
Sarich-Benoit
Goalies
Varlamov
Giguere
Game Info
Opening Face-off: 12:00 PM PST
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
TV: LOCAL