DENVER — Matt Nieto won’t be sending any Hallmark cards over to his former-teammates on the Sharks to express his sympathy for the team’s loss of Joe Thornton to a right-knee injury injury on Jan. 23.
Nieto’s new team, the Colorado Avalanche (28-19-4), is fighting to stay alive in the Western Conference playoff race after losing Nathan MacKinnon to a shoulder injury last week.
MacKinnon, an early contender for this year’s Hart Trophy, will be out for another week to three weeks and the team’s second-leading scorer, Mikko Rantanen, is questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Sharks (28-16-8) in Denver.