Avalanche vs. Sharks, Game 62: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

It’s time for the Colorado Avalanche to tighten things up defensively. They’ll have a chance to do that Tuesday night against one of the worst teams in the NHL.

The Avalanche, losers of three straight, will host the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena. Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start, but for this game, Jonas Johansson will back him up. The only other potential lineup change would come on defense. Kurtis MacDermid has been cleared to play, and there’s a chance the Avalanche put him in the lineup over Brad Hunt.

With the Sharks, the focus is on stopping Erik Karlsson. The Swedish defenseman is back to looking like his old self this season, and could very easily win the Norris Trophy. How difficult is it to slow a player like him down?

“It’s difficult,” Bednar said before the game. “Obviously, elite playmaker, he’s making things happen on a nightly basis from the offensive side of things, so you’ve got to know where he’s at.”

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The Sharks sit with just 50 points on the year, and are in the running to get super prospect Connor Bedard in the summer. Karlsson leads the way for them offensively, with a crazy 82 points in 64 games.

Nico Sturm is expected to get his Stanley Cup ring after the game.

This is the first matchup between the two teams this year (somehow). They will meet again in San Jose for two games in April.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Valeri Nichushkin

Matt Nieto – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano – Lars Eller – Logan O’Connor

Evan Rodrigues – Alex Newhook – Denis Malgin

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Bowen Byram

Jack Johnson – Brad Hunt

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Jonas Johansson

Expected San Jose Sharks Lines, per SanJoseHockeyNow.com

Andreas Johnston – Logan Couture – Alexander Barabanov

William Eklund – Tomas Hertl – Fabian Zetterlund

Noah Gregor – Nico Sturm – Evgeny Svechnikov

Oskar Lindblom – Steven Lorentz – Kevin Labanc

Defense

Nikolai Knyzhov – Erik Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Matt Benning

Mario Ferraro – Derrick Pouliot

Goaltenders

Kaapo Kahkonen

James Reimer

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 22.9%, 9th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 78.4%, 18th in NHL

San Jose Sharks Power Play: 18.2%, 26th in NHL

San Jose Sharks Penalty Kill: 83.3%, 3rd in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN+, Altitude TV, NBC Sports

Radio: 92.5 Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 7:00 PM MST