NHL Matchup - December 3, 2007

The Colorado Avalanche will be without injured captain Joe Sakic for the second straight game when they host the San Jose Sharks tonight at the Pepsi Center. Sakic, whose ironman streak ended at 232 games when he sat out Saturday’s game with a groin muscle injury, has seven goals and 15 assists this season.

The Avalanche will be shooting for back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly a month, but the Sharks have the edge head-to-head over the past 10 meetings, going 6-3-0-1. The teams last met on Friday, when the Sharks edged the Avalanche 3-2 at home.

This will be the third game in four nights for Colorado (14-10-1 SU), who beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 on the road Saturday. San Jose (12-8-4 SU) hasn’t played since hosting the Avalanche Friday.

Tonight’s game pits one of the NHL’s best home records (Colorado’s 10-2 SU) against one of the best road records (San Jose’s 8-3-2 SU).

The probable goalies for tonight are Evgeni Nabokov for the Sharks and Peter Budaj for the Avalanche.

The over/under total has gone Over in four of the past six meetings between San Jose and Colorado, and the total has gone Over in five of Colorado's past six games at home.

Besides Sakic, forward Andrew Brunette is listed as questionable (flu), and defenseman Kurt Sauer is out indefinitely after being placed on injured reserve with a neck injury.

NHL Betting Line: Colorado is a slight 115-moneyline favorite at BodogLife. The over/under is 5½.