Sharks vs. Avalanche Lines: Joel Ward back in lineup
Ward heads back to the second line.
Joel Ward joins Matt Nieto and Patrick Marleau on the second line while the Sharks will face backup Colorado goaltender Calvin Pickard. Tomas Hertl centers the fourth line flanked by Melker Karlsson and Mike Brown while Chris Tierney is on the third with Joonas Donskoi and Tommy Wingels.
Hertl on the third with Wingels and Donskoi would be a better line, but moving him to the fourth gives the Sharks a little more balance. Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo are the Sharks third pairing.
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. at SAP Center.
Projected Sharks Lines
Dainius Zubrus – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Matt Nieto – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Joonas Donskoi – Chris Tierney – Tommy Wingels
Melker Karlsson – Tomas Hertl – Mike Brown
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Alex Stalock
Projected Avalanche Lines
Gabriel Landeskog – John Mitchell – Matt Duchene
Alex Tanguay – Nathan MacKinnon – Jarome Iginla
Andreas Martinsen – Carl Soderberg – Blake Comeau
Cody McLeod – Mikhail Grigorenko – Jack Skille
Francois Beauchemin – Erik Johnson
Nick Holden – Tyson Barrie
Nate Guenin – Zach Redmond
Calvin Pickard
Semyon Varlamov