Sharks vs. Avalanche: San Jose tries for five in a row ... again

San Jose can’t get to the All-Star break soon enough. With three games to go until a weekend off, San Jose could use some time off. Before getting too far ahead of ourselves, the Sharks can win their fifth game in a row on Monday by sweeping the Nieto Bowl in Denver at 6 p.m. PT against the worst team in the NHL.

After needing overtime to beat the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, that might be a taller order than originally thought. San Jose didn’t look good against the Avs in its only other meeting of the year and with only one day off, a travel day on Sunday, it’s unlikely the group will have gotten much rest.

Perhaps the team made some tactical adjustments to the speed of the Avalanche over the day off to better deal with the speed of a team with some top-end talent and not much else. Joe Thornton and the rest of the top line was eaten alive on Saturday while the fourth line held its own against a bottom six that can charitably called ineffective.

Aaron Dell will likely get the start in net in the first half of a back-to-back after Jones played on Saturday against the Avs. It would be Dell’s second start in three games and would set up Jones to play against the Jets on Tuesday and likely close out the pre-All-Star schedule against the Oilers on Thursday.

Timo Meier missed his second-straight game with an undisclosed injury, though it was described as minor. My guess is that we see him back in the lineup tonight. Barclay Goodrow and Tim Heed were both with the team, albeit in the press box, for Saturday’s game. The Barracuda don’t play against until Wednesday, making it likely the two travelled with the Sharks to Denver and will sit again on Monday.