Early look The full preview opens on Tuesday 2 March, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Colorado Avalanche at San Jose Sharks: game preview

Puck drop5 Mar · 10:00 PM ET
VenueSAP Center at San Jose
All-time meetings150 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Thirty-five points apart last season

Colorado finished last season 1st in the league on 121 points. San Jose finished 24th on 86.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 151

Across 150 completed games, Colorado lead the head-to-head 81-54-15.

All-time record81-54-15Colorado's record in the series
Meetings played150This is number 151
2025-26 series—
Last 54-1Colorado
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
4 Feb 2026SJS 2 – COL 4——COL
26 Nov 2025SJS 0 – COL 6——COL
1 Nov 2025COL 2 – SJS 3 OT——SJS
6 Mar 2025SJS 3 – COL 7——COL
19 Dec 2024COL 4 – SJS 2——COL
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateColoradoSan Jose
1 Nov 20257-1-5 · 19 pts1st4-6-2 · 10 pts30th
26 Nov 202517-1-5 · 39 pts1st11-10-3 · 25 pts24th
4 Feb 202635-6-9 · 79 pts1st26-21-3 · 55 pts21st

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 1 Nov 2025, Colorado were 1st in the league and San Jose 30th. By 4 Feb 2026 it was 1st and 21st.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Colorado out-attempted San Jose 236 to 150

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Colorado Avalanche

236 att · 123 on goal · 12 G · 9.8%
Crease16 att · 2 G
Slot94 att · 4 G
Wing84 att · 6 G
Point34 att · 0 G
Neutral zone8 att · 0 G

San Jose Sharks

150 att · 74 on goal · 5 G · 6.8%
Crease13 att · 0 G
Slot58 att · 2 G
Wing51 att · 2 G
Point24 att · 1 G
Neutral zone4 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Colorado have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

ColoradoSan Jose
3.16xG for per game2.13
2.55xG against per game3.72
55.4%xG share36.4%
+7.7FinishingGoals minus expected goals+2.6
+0.1GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed−0.8

This season: 2 games for Colorado, 3 for San Jose. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Colorado

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2744.4%
Power play · 2025-2617.1% · 27th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-27100.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2684.6% · 1st
Faceoffs · 2026-2746.8% · 58/124
Drawn · 2026-279 (4.50/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-276 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

San Jose

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2621.2% · 16th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.4% · 26th
Faceoffs · 2026-2744.4% · 72/162
Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
88Martin Necas22242.00
2Will Smith32131.00
92Igor Chernyshov32131.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Josh Manson21231.50
8Cale Makar21231.50
7Devon Toews20221.00
42Luca Cagnoni31120.67
5Nolan Allan21010.50
65Jacob Trouba30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 2 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 3 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Colorado crease

COL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 2 Mar

Mackenzie Blackwood.9122 GP · 2-0-0 · GSAx +0.1

No appearances against San Jose in the last meetings.

San Jose crease

SJS · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 2 Mar

Yaroslav Askarov.8623 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −0.8

No appearances against Colorado in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.6 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

4 Feb 20266 · SJS 2–4 COL
26 Nov 20256 · SJS 0–6 COL
1 Nov 20255 · COL 2–3 SJS
6 Mar 202510 · SJS 3–7 COL
19 Dec 20246 · COL 4–2 SJS

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Colorado7.002.503.682.48
San Jose3.004.003.063.56

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.6Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings6.6Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

10 on the injury lists

Colorado · injuries

Georgii MerkulovUndisclosedIRReturn16 Oct
Logan O'ConnorLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct
Trent MinerUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
Zachary L'HeureuxLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct

San Jose · injuries

Adam GaudetteUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Alex Barre-BouletUndisclosedIRReturn8 Oct
Cam LundUpper BodyIRReturn19 Oct
Kyle KeyserUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
Macklin CelebriniLower BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Quentin MustyUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
27 Sep · COL

Placed LD Keaton Middleton, LD Wyatt Aamodt, RW/LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and LW Tristen Nielsen on waivers.

27 Sep · COL

Placed D Keaton Middleton, D Wyatt Aamodt, LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and G Mads Sogaard Nielsen on waivers.

25 Sep · COL

Reassigned Ds Domenick Fensore, Saige Weinstein and Christian Wolanin to Colorado (AHL).

4 Oct · SJS

Placed C Patrick Giles on waivers.

27 Sep · SJS

Placed G Ilya Samsonov on waivers.

23 Sep · SJS

Placed RW Ethan Cardwell, D Libor Hajek and LW Tye Felhaber on waivers.

Injury report
#43Egor ShilovRound 2 · VictoriavilleC
#74Beckett HamiltonRound 3 · Red DeerC
#126Tobias TvrznikRound 4 · WenatcheeG
#128Axel ElofssonRound 4 · Orebro Jr.D
Full draft
#2Ivar StenbergRound 1 · FrolundaLW
#9Keaton VerhoeffRound 1 · North DakotaD
#21Ryan LinRound 1 · VancouverD
#127Brady KnowlingRound 4 · Usa U-18G
Full draft

Updated after every final