NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche. Coverage begins at 9:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
The Sharks and Avalanche meet for the first time this season in a matchup of teams that would each be in the playoffs if the season ended today but enter the new year on very different paths. San Jose won nine of 15 games in December (9-4-2) including a 7-2-2 stretch in its last 11. Colorado, on the other hand, is mired in a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) and has lost nine of its last 11 games (2-6-3).
San Jose has been streaky over the last five weeks or so, losing four straight at the end of November into December followed by winning seven of eight and then losing three straight prior to Christmas before winning two in-a-row ahead of Monday’s loss.
Sharks captain Joe Pavelski leads the Sharks with 23 goals. The 34-year-old finished with 22 goals last season in a full 82 games. Pavelski picked a good time to be on a career pace (on track for 46 goals – career high is 41 from 2013-14), since he will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The Avs are led by their trio – what was known as the MGM line – of Landeskog, last year’s Hart Trophy runner-up in MacKinnon and rising star Rantanen. Like the team, the three of them have come a long way since Colorado’s disastrous 2016-17 season when they finished last in the NHL.
Rantanen ranks second in the NHL in points and MacKinnon sits third. Not since Evgeni Malkin (1st) and Sidney Crosby (3rd) in 2008-09 has a pair of teammates finished in the top three in scoring in the same season.
[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS 9:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]
What: San Jose Sharks at Colorado Avalanche
Where: Pepsi Center
When: Wednesday, Jan. 2, 9:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Sharks-Avalanche stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
SHARKS
Lukas Radil - Logan Couture - Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
Evander Kane - Tomas Hertl - Joonas Donskoi
Kevin Labanc - Barclay Goodrow - Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
Joakim Ryan - Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon - Erik Karlsson
Starting goalie: Martin Jones
AVALANCHE
Tyson Jost - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog - Alex Kerfoot - J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Matt Calvert
Gabriel Bourque - Sheldon Dries - Logan O’Connor
Sam Girard - Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth - Ryan Graves
Starting goalie: Philipp Grubauer
John Forslund (play-by-play) and Pierre McGuire (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will call Sharks-Avalanche from Pepsi Center.