Sharks at Avalanche preview

SHARKS (21-23-4) at AVALANCHE (25-15-6)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The 40-year-old center, in his 22nd season in the League, has 1,497 points (415 goals, 1,082 assists), three shy of becoming the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 points.
Goalie Martin Jones will start for the Sharks, 4-2-1 in their past seven games after going 2-9-2 in their previous 13.
Goalie Philipp Grubauer will start for the Avalanche, who will try to end a four-game winless streak (0-2-2). Colorado is 3-6-3 in its past 12 games after going 9-1-1 in its previous 11, and 1-4-2 in its past seven at home.

Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a six-game point streak and is two points shy of 600 in the NHL.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"Looking at [Colorado's] offensive zone play, if we don't end plays quickly, they're going to have a ton of motion where you'll be chasing from behind, and that's scary against those guys. Every position on the ice, every zone, we have to play as a five-man unit. It can't just be a one-on-one battle all over the ice tonight." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner
"For us in here it's about keeping that positive mentality. We know how good we are, we just got to continue to stay with it. For me, it's about doing the same thing and eventually it's going to go your way." -- Avalanche center Nazem Kadri

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc
Patrick Marleau -- Antti Suomela -- Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Barclay Goodrow
Melker Karlsson -- Joel Kellman -- Stefan Noesen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Radim Simek -- Mario Ferraro
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Joachim Blichfeld, Tim Heed
Injured: Logan Couture (fractured ankle), Dalton Prout (upper body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Tyson Jost -- Vladislav Kamenev
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Nikita Zadorov
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz
Scratched: Mark Barberio
Injured:Joonas Donskoi (concussion protocol), Colin Wilson (lower body)

Status report

Donskoi, a forward, will miss his third game. He skated for the fifth straight day and could return against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Stat pack

San Jose is 7-2-1 in its past 10 games against Colorado. … Girard has 11 assists in his past seven games.