Colorado Opens Second Round in San Jose

The Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks will face off at SAP Center on Friday night for Game 1 of their second-round matchup in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The best-of-seven series will be the first postseason matchup between the clubs since 2010. In that set, the Sharks defeated the Avs in six games.
After Games 1 and 2 in San Jose, the series will shift back to Denver with Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 on Thursday.

Recapping Round 1

The Avalanche took down the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames, in five games to advance to the second round. Mikko Rantanen paced the Avs with nine points (five goals, four assists) in the series, while netminder Philipp Grubauer recorded a 4-1 record with a 1.89 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.
San Jose went to seven games against the Vegas Golden Knights and prevailed in overtime in the decisive final contest. Erik Karlsson was the Sharks' leading scorer with nine assists during the series. Goaltender Martin Jones went 4-2 between the pipes with a 3.20 goals-against average and .904 save percentage.

What To Watch

Power Generators
San Jose scored eight goals on the man advantage during the first round, the most among any teams that advanced to the second round. Four of the markers came in a 4:01 span in the third period of Game 7 against Vegas. The Avalanche finished third among Round 2 clubs with five tallies on the power play during the conference quarterfinals.
Put Pucks on Net
After averaging an 11th-ranked 32.6 shots per game in the regular season, the Avs are leading NHL postseason teams with 41 shots per contest. There are only eight teams in NHL history to average 40 or more shots per game in the playoffs, with the 2011-12 Chicago Blackhawks being the most recent at 40.2.

Players To Watch

Colorado: Left Wing Matt Nieto
The former member of the San Jose Sharks has four points (two goals, two assists) in five postseason contests for the Avs after one round. The Long Beach, California, native tallied short-handed goals in both Games 2 and 3 against Calgary to tie the franchise record for the most goals on the penalty kill during a single postseason.
San Jose: Right Wing Barclay Goodrow
The 26-year-old Goodrow tallied two of San Jose's four game-winning goals in their series against Vegas, including in overtime in Game 7. In 82 games during the regular season for the Sharks, the Toronto, Ontario, native tallied 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists). Goodrow had a helper in three contests against Colorado during the 2018-19 campaign.

The Details

Game 1 between the Avalanche and Sharks is set for 8 p.m. MT on Friday. The contest can be watched nationally in the United States on NBCSN or streamed on select devices with the NBC Sports app or NHL.tv. The game will be televised throughout Canada on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports. The Avalanche radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio FM 92.5 in the Denver area or online at ColoradoAvalanche.com.
The Avs will be holding their official watch party at Sports Column in downtown Denver on Friday night.
Fans can watch Game 1 with mascot Bernie and the RAM Trucks Avalanche Ice Girls and win prizes, including signed memorabilia.