Colorado @ San Jose preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 2, 2019 ) San Jose 5, Colorado 4

The San Jose Sharks have been unable to keep up with the sizzling pace of first-place Calgary in the Pacific but they still hold a comfortable lead over Vegas for the No. 2 spot in the division. The Sharks have a chance to make up some ground on the Flames when they open a four-game homestand against the resurgent Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

San Jose had to settle for a split of its four-game road trip after dropping a 4-1 decision at Boston to spoil the Sharks debut of Gustav Nyquist, acquired from Detroit on Monday. “I really like him,” captain Joe Pavelski said. “He looked confident with the puck. He made some good plays in the neutral zone. You could see the poise.” The Avalanche have surged back into contention for the top two wild cards, extending their point streak to six games (5-0-1) with Wednesday's 3-2 shootout win over Vancouver. "All the teams around us, they're not just going to sleep, they're going to continue to play hard," netminder Semyon Varlamov said. "Everybody's winning, so we've got to keep winning games."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), NBCS California (San Jose)

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (28-24-12): Coach Jared Bednar had split up his high-scoring No. 1 line but put them back together Wednesday and the reunion resulted in goals from Nathan MacKinnon (team-high 33rd) and Mikko Rantanen as well as an assist from captain Gabriel Landeskog. Rantanen also converted in the shootout to set the stage for Carl Soderberg's decisive tally in the sixth round. "He deserves all the opportunities he's getting," Bednar said of Soderberg. "He's playing a big man's game and is helping us in a lot of different ways on a nightly basis, a very consistent player for us."

ABOUT THE SHARKS (37-19-8): Defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has aggravated a groin injury twice in the past week, will sit out at least the next two games, coach Peter DeBoer said after Thursday's practice. “I don’t think you can ever take it out of the athlete’s hands," DeBoer said of Karlsson who initially missed nine games after he was hurt in mid-January. "Your job is to keep them from hurting themselves. I really think we did that. We were extra cautious the first time.” Logan Couture has three goals and six assists over his last eight games to move within two points of reaching 60 for the fourth time.

OVERTIME

1. MacKinnon, who has four goals in his last five games, has nine tallies in 14 meetings against San Jose.

2. Sharks D Brent Burns had 15 points in 10 games last month and 41 in 55 contests versus Colorado.

3. Varlamov is 5-4-3 with a 2.91 goals-against average versus San Jose.

PREDICTION: Sharks 4, Avalanche 2