Preview: Rebounding against the Sharks
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
The second leg of a back-to-back is testing the waters with San Jose.
The Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks face off on Next Gen night in Ball Arena on Sunday night. Both teams are having their struggles this season, but still are very different in terms of where they are in the standings and as a team.
Both of these teams played a close game early in the season. MacKenzie Blackwood nearly single-handedly beat the Avs in San Jose, until Cale Makar scored in the final minute to tie it at one until Colorado won in the shootout. Can the Sharks work the same magic and pull out a win this time around?
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs are coming off a rough 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets less than 24 hours ago in Manitoba. They didn’t seem to show up at all in the game, and it showed in the end.
Part of their issues was the absence of Cale Makar to a lower-body injury in a late scratch. His status is still unknown for this evening’s affair, and just how serious the injury he has been dealing with from the beginning of this season is unknown.
But, the Avs will still have stars like Nathan MacKinnon on their side, who is still riding a 14-game point streak. Can he help steer the Avs back in the right direction against a struggling San Jose side?
Projected Lines
Valeri Nichushkin (13) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)Johnathan Drouin (27) - Ryan Johansen (12) - Ben Meyers (59)Miles Wood (28) - Ross Colton (20) - Logan O’Connor (25)Andrew Cogliano (11) - Frederik Olofsson (22) - Joel Kiviranta (94)
Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)Bowen Byram (4) - Josh Manson (42)Jack Johnson (3) - Caleb Jones (82)
San Jose Sharks
San Jose is coming off a close 1-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night. Just like the tale of most of this season, the Sharks could not generate much offense and couldn’t get the puck to the back of the net.
There is always Tomas Hertl who can pull a special move every once in a while. But, he and the entire team will be without Logan Couture who is on the IR.
Can the Sharks lean on goaltending and look to goalie the Avs once again? Or will they fall beneath the Avalanche, who will be looking to come out angry after their most recent loss?
Projected Lines
William Eklund (72) - Tomas Hertl (48) - Alexander Barabanov (94)Anthony Duclair (10) - Mikael Granlund (64) - Fabian Zutterlund (20)Justin Bailey (90) - Luke Kunin (11) - Mike Hoffman (68)Filip Zadina (18) - Jack Studnicka (16) - Kevin Lebanc (62)
Mario Ferraro (38) - Kyle Burroughs (4)Nikita Okhotyuk (83) - Jan Rutta (84)Henry Thurn (3) - Calen Addison (33)
Goaltenders
With Ivan Prosvetov playing last night against the Jets, we should see Alexandar Georgiev get the net back once again. For the Sharks, it’s Blackwood just based on his performance last time out against the Avs alone....
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