Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. San Jose Sharks (7:00 p.m.)

We will have one last Colorado Avalanche hockey game before some players head to Milan for the winter games, and it will be against the young, up-and-coming San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena. The Avalanche will be looking to tidy up a bit after a 2-0 defeat suffered at the hands of their old rival, the Detroit Red Wings. The Sharks are currently on a three-game slide, and both teams want to head to the break with a victory, but who will it be?

Colorado Avalanche

If this matchup were happening in November of 2025, I’d say there would be just about no shot for the San Jose Sharks to come into Ball Arena and steal points from the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Co.

Too bad it’s February of 2026, when the boys have been more blue than burgundy, and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and have struggled to remain consistent since the calendar turned.

The Avalanche have been the first team to every increment of 10 total points throughout the season and have led the league most of the way, but that doesn’t paint the whole picture in Colorado. They are an unbelievably effective team at 5-on-5, but still can’t figure out really anything with a man advantage. It has fans and pundits scratching their heads.

It would be just like the Avalanche to tally two or more power-play goals just ahead of the Olympic break, to spite us all.

We got word this morning that, although they are skating and will represent their respective countries at the Olympics, Martin Necas and Gabe Landeskog will not play this evening.

Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton — Brock Nelson — Victor Olofsson
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Gavin Brindley
Taylor Makar — Zakhar Bardakov — Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski

MacKenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks are a young, promising team led by phenom Macklin Celebrini. This matchup could become a first-round playoff battle if things continue as they have so far in 2025-26, but the two lineups will likely look a bit different by then.

Celebrini hasn’t just been decent; he’s lighting it up like a cagey veteran scorer, and he’s already shown he’s an elite play driver and scorer at just 19 years of age. He will be the youngest player at this year’s Olympic Games and the youngest Canadian to make Team Canada when NHL players are involved. Impressive stuff.

Projected Lineup:

Will Smith — Macklin Celebrini — Kiefer Sherwood
William Eklund — Michael Misa — Tyler Toffoli
Philipp Kurashev — Alexander Wennberg — Collin Graf
Barclay Goodrow — Adam Gaudette

Mario Ferraro — Timothy Liljegren
Dmitry Orlov — John Klingberg
Shakir Mukhamadullin — Vincent Desharnais

Alex Nedeljkovic
Yaroslav Askarov

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