Avalanche Aims for Consistency in Sharks Series

Six games into the season, the Colorado Avalanche has been average when it comes to wins and losses. Posting a 3-3-0 overall record and splitting its most recent four-game road trip in Southern California, the team has won some games without playing its best and has lost a few where it probably deserved a better result.
The Avs look to find more consistency this evening when they open a quick, two-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena.
"I just think it's the nature of the game," said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar after today's morning skate. "You know lots of the teams that had tough years last year have greatly improved and when you're playing a team multiple times, every game gets tougher and tougher."

In both of the two-game sets at the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks last week, the Avalanche won the first contest before dropping the second, and the team has split each of its three series so far this season.
"For us, we've done a nice job on the back-to-backs when I look at sort of the rhythm of our team's play," Bednar said. "I thought in L.A. we were better the second night than we were the first, and I thought in Anaheim we were better the second night than we were the first. Unfortunately, we didn't get either of the wins we wanted in that, but I felt like we could have come away from that road trip with a little bit of a better record than what we had."
With this season being unique in that nearly the entire schedule features two, three and four-game series, defeating an opponent in consecutive contests was going to be difficult with teams not wanting to drop back-to-back contests in a shortened season.
The matchups will only get tougher with the Avs only playing against West Division opponents this season, meaning every contest has a four-point swing to it as the squads battle for playoff contention.
"I mean it's tough, you're playing the same team. If you beat them the first night, you're going to get a hungrier team the second night," said Bednar.
The Sharks missed the postseason last year after posting a 29-36-5 record and finishing eighth in the Pacific Division, but they are now healthy and are one of the clubs that are in the middle of the pack in new West Division. San Jose (3-3-0) has also split each of its first three series and join the Avs as one of four teams in the division with six points in the standings after six outings.
Colorado had success last time it was on its home ice as it won 8-0 against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 15, just two days after falling 4-1 to its division foe on opening night. The Blues, for reference, are just one spot ahead of the Avs in the standings with seven points (3-2-1).

IN COMES EJ AND KIEFER

Defensemen Erik Johnson and Ryan Graves and forward Kiefer Sherwood will enter the lineup for the Avs this evening.
Johnson didn't play the past three games while working on his conditioning, as he missed all of training camp and the first two contests of the season while in COVID-19 protocol following a positive test. Johnson did skate in last Tuesday's game at the Los Angeles Kings, seeing 11:47 of ice time.
"I felt good. Timing was a little bit off, but that was expected, and conditioning felt fine," Johnson said of that first game. "I didn't play my normal minutes, but that was expected as well. It was just good to be back out there and be part of a win that night. Had some chance to get back on the ice with skills coach Shawn Allard] and work on my game and get it to where it needs to be to get back in the lineup conditioning-wise, because I wasn't able to do anything at all for two weeks. I've skated the last eight or nine days and feel good and looking forward to helping the guys."
Graves will play in his sixth game of the campaign after being a healthy scratch in Sunday's contest at the Anaheim Ducks. Greg Pateryn and Conor Timmins will be scratched this evening.
Sherwood will be making his Avalanche debut after signing with the club as a free agent in the offseason. He has 60 games of NHL experience with Anaheim, playing 10 contests with the Ducks last season. The Columbus, Ohio, native spent most of the 2019-20 campaign with the American Hockey League's San Diego Gulls where he produced 16 goas and 23 points in 37 contests.
"I'm very excited for this opportunity and thankful," Sherwood said. "I'm just going to try and stay in the present and try to help our team by creating good energy and have it display on the ice."
Sherwood will begin the contest on the fourth line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Tyson Jost and will replace Matt Calvert, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss his first contest of the year.
[View: Avalanche vs. Sharks Projected lineup

GAME NOTES

The Avalanche is beginning its eight-game season series against the Sharks, with this being the first four to occur in Denver. Colorado will also host San Jose at Ball Arena on April 30 and May 1, the team's final home contests of the regular season.
Nathan MacKinnon can tie Joe Sakic's franchise record for consecutive regular-season games with a shot this evening (227). Sakic set the mark from Nov. 17, 1995 to Jan. 12, 1999, while MacKinnon's current streak of 226 began on Oct. 14, 2017 at Dallas--the longest current run in the NHL
Samuel Girard is expected to appear in his 227th consecutive regular-season game, passing Karlis Skrastins for the second-longest ironman streak by an Avalanche defenseman (since 1995-96).
Mikko Rantanen is on a career-high, five-game goal streak and can become the first Colorado player to tally in six consecutive games since Nathan MacKinnon's season-opening streak from Oct. 4-16, 2018.
Colorado ranks ninth in the NHL in faceoff percentage (52.9 percent) and has won the faceoff battle in five of its six games and was even in the other (50-50, Jan. 15 vs. St. Louis). Individually, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ranks third in the NHL at 65.4 percent (34/52), while Nazem Kadri is 12th at 60.5 percent (46/76).
Gabriel Landeskog needs one goal to tie Peter Forsberg (202) for the third-most all-time in an Avalanche sweater (since 1995-96).

ONE TIMERS

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Head coach Jared Bednar on Matt Calvert's impact:
"He's the energizer for our team right now, and we're going to miss him here tonight because now he's out with an injury. I just feel like he's been playing great, he's been creating scoring chances, he looks real confident with the puck. He's always been good away from the puck, so it looked like his game went to a new level at the start of this year. Unfortunately he's going to miss a little bit of time."
Bednar on the Andre Burakovsky-Nazem Kadri-Brandon Saad line:
"There's some simple fixes I think for them that can help them get jumpstarted and start building some momentum and moving in a positive director for our team. We certainly need more from them, but I know they're capable of it."
Erik Johnson on rookie defenseman Bowen Byram:
"I'm really impressed with him, on and off the ice, really good kid. Tried to help him as much as I can off the ice. I said if he has any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask and that's part of my job, make these guys feel comfortable. The more comfortable they feel off the ice, they're going to be better on the ice."
Johnson on facing former teammate Matt Nieto of San Jose:
"It will be good to see Nietsy again. He was a hardworking, great guy for our group for a couple years. He got here when we really weren't a very good team, and he was part of what we built into being one of the better teams in the league, and he was a lot to do with it on the penalty kill and just being a hard worker and [having a] good attitude and [being a] good teammate. Wishing him all the best in San Jose."
Kiefer Sherwood on making an impression early in the season:
"Just put my head down and go to work. Obviously [I'm the] new kid on the block, so I just got to earn my stripes and try to open some eyes. I think just earn some respect in the locker room and amongst the guys."