Avalanche 1 - 5 Sharks
Final
  for this game

Avalanche visit Sharks for key Western battle

Mar 26, 2012 - 3:00 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of teams battling for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference go head-to-head tonight as the Colorado Avalanche visit the San Jose Sharks.

Both the Avalanche and Sharks have 86 points on the season, putting them in a three-way tie with the Kings for the eighth spot in the West. Colorado, though, has played two more games than both San Jose and Los Angeles and all three teams trail seventh-place Phoenix by one point. The Kings also play this evening in Vancouver.

The Avs are making their push behind a former Shark as forward Jamie McGinn has eight goals in 13 games since coming over in a trade with San Jose along with a pair of prospects for Daniel Winnik, T.J. Galiardi and a draft pick. McGinn reached 20 goals on the season in Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss to Vancouver.

Gabriel Landeskog added his NHL rookie-leading 22nd goal of the season and Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves to go along with an assist.

"We got that point tonight and that helps," said Landeskog. "We got off to a good start tonight and we have to take that with us next week because when we are there we can't get behind."

Defenseman Erik Johnson has missed the past three games for the Avalanche with back spasms, while the Sharks could be minus two forwards in this meeting. Galiardi has sat out the past four games with an upper-body injury, while Ryane Clowe is questionable due to a head injury suffered in a 4-3 shootout win over the Coyotes.

Michal Handzus and Clowe both scored in the shootout and Antti Niemi made 25 saves through overtime and another two in the tiebreaker. Winnik, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns scored the regulation goals for the Sharks, who have won two straight and four of six.

"We'll take the two [points]," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "We obviously didn't play well enough to prevent them from getting one [point]."

San Jose will look to wrap a perfect three-game homestand this evening and pick up its fifth victory in its past six versus Colorado. The Avalanche have also lost seven straight and nine of their last 10 as the guest against the Sharks.






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