Colorado Avalanche (7-1-4) @ San Jose Sharks (3-6-2)
2 p.m. MT | SAP Center at San Jose | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)
The Avalanche begins the month of November with a trip to the Bay Area and a matchup with the San Jose Sharks. This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, as they’ll meet in Denver on November 26th and February 4th.
Latest Result (COL): COL 4, VGK 2
Latest Result (SJS): NJD 2, SJS 5
Victorious in Vegas
Martin Necas scored a goal and added two assists to help the Avalanche defeat the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Friday. Brock Nelson, Brent Burns and Cale Makar also scored for the Avs, while Scott Wedgewood stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced. A day after signing an eight-year extension with the Avs, Necas opened the scoring 41 seconds into the game with his eighth goal of the season via a left-circle one-timer set up by Makar’s cross-ice feed. Just after a Vegas power play expired, the Avalanche doubled its lead when Nelson scored his third goal of the season on a breakaway set up by Jack Drury’s feed at 4:32 of the second period. Tomas Hertl put Vegas on the board with a four-on-three power-play goal at 2:51 of the third period. Burns regained Colorado’s two-goal lead with his first tally in an Avs uniform at 10:11 of the third period via a shot from the high slot set up by Necas. Mitch Marner cut the Vegas deficit to one goal with a shot from below the right circle at 12:01 of the third period. At 18:22 of the final frame, Makar scored his fourth goal of the season via a long-range empty-net tally.
Leading the Way
Nate the Great
Nathan MacKinnon is tied for first in the NHL in goals (9) and tied for second in points (18).
All Hail Cale
Among NHL defensemen, Makar is first in points (17) and assists (13) in addition to being tied for first in goals (4). His 13 assists are the third most among all skaters, and his 17 points are tied for the fourth most.
Marty Party
Necas is tied for eighth in the NHL in goals (8) and tied for 10th in points (16).
Series History
In 111 previous regular-season games against the Sharks, the Avalanche has a record of 61-38-12. The teams have met five times in the playoffs, with the Avs winning the 1999 Western Conference Quarterfinals in six games and the 2002 Western Conference Semifinals in seven contests.
Success in San Jose
The Sharks defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday at SAP Center at San Jose. The Sharks took a 3-0 first-period lead after goals from William Eklund at 42 seconds, Philipp Kurashev at 12:12 and Alexander Wennberg at 15:47. Dawson Mercer put the Devils on the board with a power-play goal at 19:00 of the first period. In the middle frame, Will Smith gave the Sharks a 4-1 lead at 16:50 and Tyler Toffoli made it 5-1 at 18:30. Mercer scored his second power-play goal of the game to make it 5-2 at 4:19 of the third period.
Starring Against the Sharks
MacKinnon has posted 55 points (20g/35a) in 37 regular-season games against the Sharks in addition to five points (3g/2a) in seven playoff contests.
In 16 regular-season contests against San Jose, Makar has registered 29 points (8g/21a) along with four assists in seven playoff games.
Valeri Nichushkin has recorded 20 points (10g/10a) in games against the Sharks.
San Jose’s Scorers
Macklin Celebrini leads the Sharks in goals (6), assists (11) and points (17).
Eklund is second on the team in goals (5) and points (11) while being tied for third in assists (6).
Smith is third on the team in points (10) and tied for third in goals (4) and assists (6).
A Numbers Game
798
Burns played 798 regular-season games for San Jose and posted 594 points (172g/222a).
177
Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar and Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky combined to win 177 regular-season games during their respective two-year tenures as the bench boss of the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. From 2007-08 to 2008-09, Bednar went 89-45-9 and won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup as the league champion in his second season while Warsofsky posted a record of 88-44-12 from 2016-17 to 2017-18.
15
Colorado scored 15 goals against the Sharks in 2024-25 which was the most against any team they faced last season.
Quote That Left a Mark
"I thought we handled ourselves pretty good. We get an early lead. Obviously it's a big start to the game and we're able to play with the lead most of the game. [The] second period got a little hairy with all the penalties but five-on-five I thought we did a nice job. They obviously pushed in the third period but then we were able to capitalize again. Good hard-fought game by both teams I think, and it's good to get the two points."
-- Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar on Friday’s win against the Golden Knights
