Game Preview: Avalanche at Sharks

COLORADO AVALANCHE (45-24-6) VS SAN JOSE SHARKS (22-39-15)
7 PM MT | SAP CENTERWATCH:ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
The Colorado Avalanche will face off against the San Jose Sharks for the first of two matchups this week. The Avalanche are 1-0 in the season series so far after they defeated the Sharks 6-0 back on March 7 at Ball Arena.

LAST TIME OUT

The Avs took down the Dallas Stars in a key Central Division matchup Saturday night 5-2. Center Nathan MacKinnon found the back of the net twice, forward Mikko Rantanen scored his 49th goal of the season and forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Logan O'Connor also scored. Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev turned away 26 of the 28 shots that came his way.
The Sharks routed the Arizona Coyotes 7-2 Saturday evening. Center Noah Gregor recorded his first NHL hat trick, centers Logan Couture, Kyle Criscuolo and Jacob Peterson and forward Danil Gushchin all also scored for the Sharks. Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced.

HISTORY

Colorado is now 58-40-12 all-time against San Jose.

SCOUTING THE SHARKS

Defenseman Erik Karlsson is the team's leader in both assists (73) and points (95). Karlsson's 73 assists are tied for the fourth-most all-time in NHL history by a defenseman in a season (Roman Josi, Nashville, 2021-22). The record is 79 assists, set by Winnipeg Jets defenseman Phil Housley during the 1992-93 season.

LINEUP UPDATES

Avalanche

Pavel Francouz Lower body
Gabriel LandeskogLower body
Artturi Lehkonen Upper body
Josh MansonLower body
\all injured players joined the team on the trip to California*

Sharks

Alexander BarabanovLower body
William EklundUpper body
Jonah GadjovichUpper body
Andreas JohnssonLower body
Luke KuninLower body
Oskar LindblomUpper body
Markus NutivaaraLower body
Jeffrey VielUpper body

DOING THE MOST

Center Nathan MacKinnon leads all active Avalanche players with 33 points (13g/20a) in 29 games played. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is second with 29 (8g/21a) in 36 appearances.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Sharks captain Logan Couture is the team's leader in points (12g/20a) in 43 outings against the Avalanche. Center Tomas Hertl is second with seven goals and 14 assists in 24 contests.

STATS FOR KEEPS

Name | GP | GS | Record (W-L-OT) | GAA
Colorado
Pavel Francouz | 15 | 15 | 7-7-1 | 2.53
Alexandar Georgiev | 56 | 56 | 35-16-5 | 2.54
Jonas Johansson | 3 | 2 | 2-0-0 | 2.10
Keith Kincaid | 1 | 0 | 0-0-0 | 2.15
San Jose
Kaapo Kahkonen | 34 | 34 | 9-18-6 | 3.83
James Reimer | 39 | 38 | 12-18-8 | 3.30

NUMBERS GAME

1,100

Jack Johnson appeared in his 1,100th career NHL game Saturday night, becoming the 14th U.S.-born defenseman in NHL history to skate in 1,100 career contests. He's the seventh player from the 2005 NHL Draft class to reach the 1,100-game mark.

500

Mikko Rantanenmatched his single-game career high with four points (15x - last: Nov. 12, 2022 vs. Carolina) this past Saturday to reach 500 career NHL points, joining Connor McDavid and Mitch Marner as the third player from the 2015 NHL Draft class to hit 500 career points.

2=...

Nathan MacKinnon recorded two goals for his 36th career multi-goal game, tying Anton Stastny for sixth place in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history. It was MacKinnon's 32nd multi-point game of the season, trailing only Joe Sakic (35 in 1995-96 and 34 in 2000-01) and Peter Forsberg (33 in 1995-96) for the most in a single campaign in Avalanche history.

QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK

"I think I can still elevate my game going into the last seven games here and get ready for playoffs." - Forward Mikko Rantanen after scoring his 49th goal of the season