It wasn't the best homestand, but San Jose took four of five in HP Pavilion with nine out of a possible ten points, beating the conference-leading Los Angeles Kings in the process. Is this the fabled "consistency," that we've found to be ever-so-elusive? Dealing with such a small sample size, it's unclear, but without a proper measuring stick of how many games it takes to have a credible sample size, the Sharks may just be on the verge of the aforementioned consistency.
Making subtle adjustments here and there, the Sharks came alive after back-to-back road shutouts to post victories over the Lightning, Islanders, Flames and Kings, with an overtime loss thrown in there from the Ducks, which admittedly must have stung, hated rivals and all. A three game winning streak, and the previous woes to start the season all appear to be behind them. Now is their chance to beat up on another team lacking consistency, as the Avalanche haven't won back to back games in over two weeks. Needless to say, things are going as planned for the Sharks, who were relieved to get a big win before heading off on the road, as Scott Nichol (who scored in the outing versus Los Angeles) noted:
"[The Kings are] the big dogs, they're playing real well. They were the hottest team in the NHL," Nichol said. "It was nice for us to come in and play our style and have a big home win. We go on the road for a couple and we wanted to end our homestand with a win and we did."
In their last outing, Joe Pavelski got himself back into scoring after seemingly taking some time off in that department; grabbing a goal and an assist in the crushing victory over the Kings. He'll likely be on point for tonight's game against Colorado, as he was key in the Sharks last game against them: grabbing two goals on the power play earlier this year on October 21st.
The Sharks have won three of the last four against the Avalanche, and seven of their last nine, including four of their last six at the Pepsi Center in Denver.