The cliché, “The early bird gets the worm” has been apt for the Colorado Avalanche to this point in the season. Today, they play their fourth matinee game in seven days as they face the San Jose Sharks for the first time as they kick off the month of November.
Colorado Avalanche (7-1-4)
The Opponent: San Jose Sharks (3-6-2)
Time: 2:00 P.M. MDT/4:00 P.M. EDT
Watch: ALT, NBCSCA
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche finished the month of October with a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday afternoon
at T-Mobile Arena. Martin Nečas, fresh off signing his new eight-year contract extension with Colorado on Thursday, scored his eighth goal of the season forty seconds into the contest. Brock Nelson, Brent Burns, and Cale Makar also potted goals against Vegas, and the victory cemented the Avs as the lone team in the NHL with just one regulation loss to this point in the season.
The win may have come at a cost: Gavin Brindley was on the receiving end of a high hit from Vegas left wing Ivan Barbashev, and did not finish the game after the play. The Avs recalled Taylor Makar from the Colorado Eagles after the game. While Brindley’s status is unknown at the time of this article, it’s a possibility that the Avs hold him out of the lineup given the light schedule coming up next week (Tampa Bay visits Ball Arena on Tuesday, then the Avs travel to Edmonton for a game at Rogers Place on Saturday), and Makar will suit up for his first taste of NHL action in his place.
The Avalanche would love nothing more than extend three game winning streak with another victory over the Sharks, and with Scott Wedgewood getting the victory yesterday over Vegas, it raises the question as to whether Mackenzie Blackwood could start against his former team today. Blackwood, who acquired by the Avs along with Givani Smith and a 2027 fifth round pick last December, has been recovering from an injury suffered during the offseason. He traveled with the team for this road trip, signaling that his return to action is getting closer to reality. With Avs waiving Trent Miner earlier in the week, there can be no doubt that Blackwood will see in-game action soon.
The Avs are still tops in the Central Division, and a win today would keep them at least two points ahead of both Winnipeg and Utah. Winnipeg hosts the League-leading Pittsburgh Penguins (no, this is not a typo) this afternoon, while Utah will not play until Sunday afternoon when they host Tampa.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Zakhar Bardakov – Parker Kelly – Gavin Brindley*
Defense:
Cale Makar – Devon Toews
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski
Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
*Taylor Makar was recalled from Loveland after the victory over Vegas. It is currently unknown if he debuts in place of Brindley today.
San Jose Sharks
San Jose, a perennial powerhouse that saw its first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2016, has seen its championship hopes dwindle in recent seasons. Since the dismissal of head coach Peter DeBoer during the lockout-shortened 2019-2020 season, the Sharks have gone through three head coaching changes, the most recent being the installation of Ryan Warsofsky behind the San Jose bench. He finished his first season in San Jose with a 20-50-12 record and 52 points. While this was an improvement over the previous season’s finish (19-54-9, 47 points), it signaled that there would be rough waters ahead for the franchise.
Despite the poor finishes in recent years, the Sharks have received a major boost in the form of high draft picks coming into some very talented draft classes. The most prominent came in the form of center Macklin Celebrini, the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He, along with William Eklund and Will Smith, are major components of what San Jose hopes will lead their resurgence as a championship contending team. Celebrini currently leads the Sharks in goals (6), assists (11) and points (17). Eklund ranks second in goals (5), third in assists (6), and second in points (11). Smith ranks third in goals (4), assists (6- tied with Eklund) and points (10). While the growing pains are far from over in San Jose, there is optimism that this trio will become a force to be reckoned with as they mature.
San Jose has had a rough beginning to the season, winning just three of their first eleven games, and two of those requiring overtime (a victory over the New York Rangers on October 23, and a victory over the Minnesota Wild on October 26 – both decided by a 6-5 final score). All three victories required them scoring at least five goals to finish off their opponents, while they yielded no fewer than three goals in each loss. These bloated losses have the goaltending tandem of Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic sporting a 4.69 and 3.60 GAA, respectively. Their save percentage to this point in the season isn’t much better: Askarov has a .844 save %, and Nedeljkovic has a .887 save %. A lot will need to change for San Jose’s goaltenders in order to see improvement in these numbers as the season progresses.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, acquired by San Jose in the Blackwood trade, signed an off-season contract with the Buffalo Sabres. Nikolai Kovalenko, also acquired in the Blackwood trade, returned to the KHL after the end of the 2024-2025 season. The draft picks acquired by San Jose, a 2025 fifth-round pick (used to select center Max Heise), and a 2026 second-round pick, are still relative unknowns in how they will impact the franchise, should they have any impact at all.
San Jose is looking to break a twelve game losing streak against Colorado stretching back to the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season. Their last victory against the Avs was on May 05, 2021, a 3-2 victory at the Shark Tank.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Tyler Toffoli – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
Philipp Kurashev – Alexander Wennberg – William Eklund
Collin Graf – Michael Misa – Jeff Skinner
Barclay Goodrow – Ty Dellandrea – Patrick Giles
Defense:
Dmitry Orlov – Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro – John Klingberg
Sam Dickinson – Shakir Mukhamadullin
Between the Pipes:
Yaroslov Askarov
Alex Nedelkjovic
