Avalanche at Sharks preview

AVALANCHE (42-29-9) AT SHARKS (44-26-10)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA+, ALT, NHL.TV

Despite going 1-3-1 in their past five games, the Avalanche hold the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. They lead the St. Louis Blues by one point. Each team has two games remaining, including a season-ending showdown in Denver on Saturday.
The Sharks will try to end a four-game losing streak and strengthen their hold on second place in the Pacific Division. San Jose, which has clinched a playoff berth, leads the Anaheim Ducks by one point and the Los Angeles Kings by two. Each team has two games remaining.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has two assists in his past six games after getting 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in his previous 16 games.
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones is 0-3-0 with a 3.41 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in his past three starts after going 7-0-0 with a 2.38 GAA and .919 save percentage in his previous seven.

They said it

"We've got an opportunity to win two games to get in the playoffs. That's something we've been working for since the season ended last year. I want our guys to enjoy it, embrace it. It's the best time of the year." -- Colorado coach Jared Bednar
"They'll be desperate. For us, we should be able to match that, no problem, because we still want to work for home ice here and get this thing going in the right direction again." -- Sharks captain Joe Pavelski

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Sven Andrighetto -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Colin Wilson -- J.T. Compher -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Samuel Girard
Mark Barberio -- Mark Alt
Jonathan Bernier
Andrew Hammond
Scratched:David Warsofsky , Nail Yakupov, Duncan Siemens, Dominic Toninato, Anton Lindholm, Vladislav Kamenev
Injured:Semyon Varlamov (knee), Erik Johnson (knee)

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Mikkel Boedker
Jannik Hansen -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc
Marcus Sorensen -- Dylan Gambrell --Joel Ward
Paul Martin -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched:Joakim Ryan
Injured:Evander Kane (undisclosed), Joe Thornton (knee), Barclay Goodrow (broken finger), Eric Fehr (lower body), Melker Karlsson (undisclosed)

Status report

Barberio, who has missed the past 33 games with a lower-body injury, will be a game-time decision. … Kane, who skated with the team, will miss his second straight game but guaranteed he'll be ready for the playoffs. Karlsson missed the morning skate and will be a game-time decision.

Stat pack

Kerfoot has a three-game point streak (two goals, two assists). ... Pavelski has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games.