Colorado faces San Jose on 3-game road skid

Colorado Avalanche (34-12-4, second in the West Division) vs. San Jose Sharks (20-26-6, seventh in the West Division)

San Jose, California; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT

LINE: Sharks +222, Avalanche -280

BOTTOM LINE: Colorado hits the road against San Jose looking to break its three-game road skid.

The Sharks have gone 20-26-6 against division opponents. San Jose averages 9.5 penalty minutes per game, the third-most in the NHL. Kurtis Gabriel leads the team serving 55 total minutes.

The Avalanche are 34-12-4 against the rest of their division. Colorado ranks 10th in the league with 34.8 shots per game and is averaging 3.5 goals.

The teams square off for the second straight game.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alexander Barabanov leads the Sharks with a plus-two in four games this season. Tomas Hertl has six assists over the last 10 games for San Jose.

Mikko Rantanen leads the Avalanche with a plus-27 in 45 games this season. Nathan MacKinnon has five goals over the last 10 games for Colorado.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sharks: 2-6-2, averaging 2.5 goals, 3.6 assists, 4.3 penalties and 9.5 penalty minutes while giving up 3.5 goals per game with an .887 save percentage.

Avalanche: 7-3-0, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.5 assists, 4.3 penalties and 10 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .915 save percentage.

INJURIES: Sharks: Radim Simek: day to day (upper body), Matt Nieto: out (lower body).

Avalanche: Jacob MacDonald: out (lower body), Bowen Byram: out (upper body), Logan O'Connor: day to day (lower body), Brandon Saad: out (lower-body), Matt Calvert: out (undisclosed), Dennis Gilbert: out (face).

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