Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. San Jose Sharks (8:30 p.m.)

It’s a Colorado Avalanche gameday!

The Colorado Avalanche are on the road and the west coast for a showdown with the San Jose Sharks. This is the first round of SJS vs. COL since the business move that saw Nikolai Kovalenko and Georgeiv (with picks) for Givani Smith and new starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Georgiev might be chomping to exact revenge against the team that dealt him. Will Kovelnko score on the Avs? Will Colorado show why they made the move?

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche put up a bit of a stinker in their last appearance against the Vancouver Canucks, with their powerplay struggles becoming very apparent. Colorado is 0/14 in their last five games, and that lack of success can’t continue, especially now that the Avalanche have an improved goalie tandem.

Perhaps we can see some adjustments on the powerplay to free MacKinnon and Makar up. Having MacKinnon/Rantanen wait for the cross-ice one-timer with Makar shooting for accuracy and deflections from the point isn’t working. The low-to-high bumper play is the only portion of the current powerplay strategy that has remained somewhat dangerous.

Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Ross Colton — Casey Mittelstadt — Valeri Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly — Logan O’Connor
Tye Felhaber — Ivan Ivan — Chris Wagner

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski
Keaton Middleton — Calvin de Haan

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks are still in rebuild mode, but they are starting to connect some dots that make them competitive despite what their record shows. Kovalenko and Celebrini are hitting it off since the trade with Tyler Toffoli on the second line. Kovalenko has five points, and Celebrini has seven in the four games since making the move.

Projected Lineup:

Barclay Goodrow — Mikael Granlund — Fabian Zetterlund
Nikolai Kovalenko — Macklin Celebrini — Tyler Toffoli
William Eklund — Alex Wennberg — Will Smith
Carl Grundstrom — Nico Sturm — Luke Kunin

Jake Walman — Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro — Timothy Liljegren
Shakir Mukhamadullin — Jan Rutta

Goaltenders

Mackenzie Blackwood is against the Sharks, but we haven’t confirmed who’s in net for San Jose. It remains to be seen if the Sharks will shelter Georgiev from a potential drubbing or let him spin and show the Avs what they left behind.