Just a feeling, but I think after Saturday’s 6-7 loss to the St. Louis Blues, tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche won’t be nearly so exciting.
For starters, the Avalanche have the fourth-fewest goals allowed per game, averaging just 2.33 goals against per game. The San Jose Sharks are unlikely to get six past Philipp Grubauer. For comparison, the Sharks are the second-worst in the league, averaging 3.79 goals against per game.
But since the Sharks can’t fix the goaltending, they’re rearranging deck chairs, with Alexander True making his season debut on the fourth line, centering Marcus Sorensen and Matt Nieto.
The Avs will be without defender Cale Makar, who returned to Denver for treatment for an upper-body injury earlier today.
Here’s everything you need to know to tune in tonight:
Lines
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Evander Kane — Logan Couture — Kevin Labanc
Timo Meier — Dylan Gambrell — Rudolfs Balcers
Ryan Donato — Patrick Marleau — John Leonard
Matt Nieto — Alexander True — Marcus Sorensen
Mario Ferraro — Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Erik Karlsson
Nikolai Knyzhov — Radim Simek
Martin Jones
Devan Dubnyk
Expected Scratches: Alexander Chmelevski, Noah Gregor, Stefan Noesen
Injured Reserve: None
COVID-19 Protocol: Tomas Hertl
COLORADO AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad — Nazem Kadri — Joonas Donskoi
Andre Burakovsky — J.T. Compher — Valeri Nichushkin
Tyson Jost — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews — Samuel Girard
Ryan Graves — Dan Renouf
Bowen Byram — Jacob MacDonald
Philipp Grubauer
Hunter Miska
Expected Scratches: None
Injured Reserve: Matt Calvert (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Dennis Gilbert (facial surgery), Erik Johnson (upper body), Cale Makar (upper body)
How to Watch
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center in San Jose California. Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on NBC Sports Bay Area and Altitude, as well as available to stream through NHL.tv or ESPN+.
Follow along in the comments for live updates and reactions throughout the game!
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