COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO AVALANCHE (45-24-6, 96 PTS) at SAN JOSE SHARKS (22-39-15, 59 PTS)
8:38 p.m. MT / 7:38 p.m. PT – SAP Center, San Jose, California
Altitude / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche opens their final “road trip” of the regular season, a four-game California venture beginning with a pair of contests here in San Jose tonight and Thursday … Colorado will finish the trip with a back-to-back in Southern California on Saturday (Los Angeles) and Sunday (Anaheim) … The Avs are 10-2-0 in their last 12 games, 17-5-1 in their last 23 contests and 25-7-3 in their last 35 games … The Avalanche have won a season-high six straight road games, are 10-1-0 in their last 11 road contests and 13-2-1 in their last 16 away from the Mile High City .. Colorado is 12-5-2 in its last 19 home dates.
ON THE CALL
Altitude: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Kyle Keefe (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
April 1 – Colorado 5, Dallas 2 at Ball Arena
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and Mikko Rantanen registered four points, including his 49th goal of the season and 500th career point, to lead the Avalanche to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena … Valeri Nichushkin also scored for Colorado and Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves
SF: 32 SA: 28 PP: 1-3 PK: 3-5
The Avalanche finished the season series 3-1-0 against Dallas, 2-0-0 at home. The Avs improved to 17-6-1 versus Central Division teams, 9-2-1 at home Colorado is 10-2-0 in its last 12 games, 17-5-1 in its last 23 contests and 25-7-3 in its last 35 games The Avs improved to 16-4-0 (.800) on Saturdays this season, the most wins of any team in NHL Jack Johnson appeared in his 1,100th career NHL game … He became the 14th U.S.-born defenseman in NHL history to skate in 1,100 career games. Rantanen’s four points matched his single-game career high, his 15th career four-point effort …. His four points allowed him to reach 500 points for his NHL career … Rantanen also tied his single season career high with 92 points, a mark he set a year ago MacKinnon’s two goals marks his 36th career multi-goal game, tying Anton Stastny for sixth place in franchise history … He also tallied his 81st career power-play goal, passing Anton Stastny (80) for fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list J.T. Compher had an assist to reach 50 points for the first time in his NHL career
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Apr. 3 – Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Apr. 1 – Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Brad Hunt cleared waivers
Mar. 31 – Brad Hunt placed on waivers … Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Mar. 30 – Sam Malinski signed to a two-year contract for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons … Ondrej Pavel signed to a twoyear, entry-level contract for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons … Both players will report to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) on a professional tryout contract (PTO) for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign Mar. 29 – Jason Polin signed to a one-year, entry-level contract for the 2023-24 season … He will report to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) on a professional tryout contract (PTO).
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Feb. 14 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 12 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – finger (March 15 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body (March 4 – present)
Total Man-Game Lost: 423
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – SAN JOSE SHARKS
The Avalanche and Sharks wrap up the season series with two meetings in three days here at SAP Center … They will face off again on Thursday … Colorado won the first matchup 6-0 on March 7 at Ball Arena, the only meeting of the year in the Mile High City … Colorado won all three games a year ago, sweeping the season series for just the third time (2-0-0 in 2019-20 and 4-0-0 in 2002-03) … Colorado is 12-2-0 versus San Jose since the start of the 2019-20 campaign … The Avs have won the last eight meetings in Denver and are 10-1-0 in their last 11 home games versus the Sharks.
SCHEDULE vs. SHARKS
Mar. 7 vs. SAN JOSE (W, 6-0)
Apr. 4 @ SAN JOSE
Apr. 6 @ SAN JOSE
RECORD vs. SHARKS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 1-0-0 Overall: 3-0-0 Overall: 58-40-12 Overall: 53-38-12 Series (record): 5 series (2-3)
Home: 1-0-0 Home: 2-0-0 Home: 35-14-6 Home: 32-14-6 Record Overall: 15-17
Road: — Road: 1-0-0 Road: 23-26-6 Road: 21-24-6 Last: 2019 R2 (L, 3-4)
2022-23 SEASON NOTES
ROAD WARRIORS
The Avalanche are tied for fourth in the NHL with 24 road wins (24-11-1), matching the second-most away victories in franchise history … Colorado has won a season-high six straight road games, is 10-1-0 in its last 11 road contests and 13-2-1 in its last 16… The Avs swept a four-game journey to Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Detroit from March 13-18 … It marked just the third time that Colorado has won every game of a road trip of at least four games, as the Avs went 5-0-0 on a five-game trip from Oct. 10-17, 2011 and 4-0-0 on a four-game swing from Feb. 2-7, 1999.
ROAD WINS, FRANCHISE HISTORY
26 2013-14 26-11-4
24 2022-23 24-11-1
24 2021-22 24-14-3
24 2019-20 24-11-2
24 2000-01 24-10-5-2
24 1992-93 24-10-8
CALIFORNIA DREAMING
Over the last four seasons (since 2019-20), the Avalanche are 16-5-0 in the state of California, going 4-2-0 in San Jose, 6-1-0 in Anaheim and 6-2-0 in Los Angeles … The Avs carry a streak of seven straight wins in the Golden State into tonight’s contest.
GRAND CENTRAL
Colorado is 17-6-1 against Central Division teams this season, 9-2-1 at home and 8-4-0 on the road.
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Game 76 – 4/1 – SJS 7 at ARI 2…The Sharks matched a season-long three-game win streak with a victory in Tempe. Danil Gushchin (1g, 0a) scored his first NHL goal in his NHL debut while Kyle Criscuolo (1g, 0a) scored his first NHL goal in his Sharks debut. Noah Gregor (3g, 0a) registered his first NHL hat trick and led all skaters with a game-high seven shots. Erik Karlsson (0g, 4a) led all skaters and matched a franchise record with four assists. Nico Sturm (0g, 2a) played in his 200th NHL game. San Jose scored three or more power-play goals for the first time since also scoring three in Pittsburgh on Feb. 21, 2019.
SJ Goals: Gregor (6), Peterson (1 pp), Criscuolo (1), Gushchin (1 pp), Gregor (7), Couture (27 pp), Gregor (8)
SF: 31
SA: 31
SJ PP: 3/7
SJ PK: 1/2
W: Kahkonen
L: Prosvetov
RECENT TANSACTIONS
4/3 Reassigned F Kyle Criscuolo and F Danil Gushchin to the San Jose Barracuda
4/1 Recalled F Kyle Criscuolo and F Danil Gushchin from the San Jose Barracuda
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – COLORADO AVALANCHE
Tonight, San Jose and Colorado begin the first leg of a two-game series at SAP Center at San Jose, with the two teams meeting again on April 6. The NHL’s reigning champs are beginning a four-game California swing, with back-to-back games against Los Angeles and Anaheim, respectively, scheduled for April 8 and 9. Colorado took game one of the season series by a score of 6-0 on March 7. Colorado held San Jose to just 13 shots on the night, and two Avalanche skaters (Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin) had four-point nights. Former Sharks Andrew Cogliano and Matt Nieto can make their return to SAP Center tonight.
