Sharks at Avalanche preview

SHARKS (24-13-6) at AVALANCHE (24-16-3)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Avalanche have won seven straight games, including six straight at home, and are 12-3-1 in their past 16 games. They last won eight consecutive games from Dec. 31, 2005-Jan. 17, 2006.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier will try to win his seventh straight start; he has won six in a row, his longest streak in the NHL, with a 1.27 goals-against average, .962 save percentage and one shutout in that stretch.
Goaltender Martin Jones will start for the Sharks, who seek their fourth consecutive victory to match their longest winning streak this season after a three-game losing streak (0-1-2). San Jose is 7-2-2 in its past nine games.

Players to watch

Sharks center Joe Thornton has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. He needs two points to tie Bryan Trottier (1,425) for 16th place on the NHL's all-time list.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in a seven-game point streak, and 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"We've been pretty good on the road recently, and that's going to have to continue going forward. Our team game and our foundation allows us to play a pretty consistent game. We're not relying on one guy scoring, and both our special teams have been good. That's critical on the road." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"You catch a hot streak like this, we've played exciting hockey at home all season long. That was such a big goal for us, to get our fans and the city behind us. It makes the Pepsi Center a more difficult place to play. The buzz energizes you." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc
Mikkel Boedker -- Chris Tierney -- Joonas Donskoi
Barclay Goodrow -- Joel Ward -- Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Jannik Hansen, Tim Heed
Injured: None

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

Jost is day to day after being injured in a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. ... Compher will return after missing six games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

Burns has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past seven games and 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in his past 17. … The Avalanche have killed 47 of 49 penalties in their past 16 games.