. at , 10 p.m. ET, NBCSNThis NHL season has been rife with wild swings that seemingly lead to changes to the standings in a blink of an eye. All of that movement makes for a pretty Jesus Chirinos Jersey compelling second half. Tuesday nights contest between the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks features two teams that have endured multiple swings this season.The Avalanche have been on a major upswing since the start of December. After going 9-14-1 to start they year, theyve improved to 26-21-3 and have a hold of the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. Theyre in the midst of a four-game winning streak presently and have won eight of their last 11 games. Things are going pretty well for a team that, two months ago, was dead last in the Central.The Sharks are also on a bit of a hot streak presently. San Jose has won seven of its last nine and the only two lo ses in that stretch came outside of regulation. The nine-game point-streak has helped get the team back on track after a truly abysmal December run and they presently sit in second place in the Pacific Division. Despite no longer being division rivals, the Avs and Sharks have already played twice this season and will have one more matchup in February after Tuesday nights contest. The Sharks won the first game by a 4-3 score before the Avs returned the favor by beating San Jose 6-3 last month. Now the two clubs will catch each other while theyre both having some succe s, which could make for the best game of the series so far.The Avs have been getting major performances out of goaltender . His play over this four-game winning streak has been nothing short of stellar. In fact, had he not been playing as well as he did, theres a good chance this streak would have never even gotten off the ground and the Avs wouldn't have near the level of succe s they've had since early December. He has allowed just one goal in each win during the four-game winning streak and owns a .971 save percentage over that span. In three of those four games, the Avs only scored twice.UPDATE: Varlamov may not be available for Tuesday night's game as he is back in Colorado dealing with a civil suit brought against him by his former girlfriend. While teammates are in San Jose, Semyon Varlamov remained in Denver to deal with civil suit against him from ex g/f Adrian Dater (@adater) Colorado remains one of the leagues absolute worst teams in po se sion, but Varlamov has stood tall. Hes been their MVP since the beginning of December and now owns a 19-12-3 record with a .918 save percentage. The team has had to lean on him heavily as he is facing nearly 30 shots a game on average.The Sharks surely have the snipers to challenge Colorado. They're led by leading scorer who is quietly having another incredible season when it comes to producing. He has 24 goals and his 48 points are tied for fifth in the NHL. Pavelski has five points over his last three games.Meanwhile, longtime star is on a roll lately. He has a nine-game point streak going and has points in 17 of his last 18 games. Its been vintage Thornton as he has put up 23 points over that 18-game span.Thats where the Avs have some concern. Theyve got a lot of weapons on the other side of the ice to try and slow down, but they do have quite a few of their own, too. and have combined for 79 points, showing why they are among the most explosive players in the league today. Defenseman is on pace to match his career high of 53 points has he has 32 in 46 games so far. The reason the Avs have been able to have some succe s of late is because of players like that. They have enough skill to break through and capitalize on mistakes. However, because they're not great at controlling the puck, they just need their goaltender to stand on his head every once in a while (or a lot). This time it will be up to Calvin Pickard to do the head-standing if Varlamov is out.Pick: Avalanche 3, Sharks 2The rest of Tuesdays picks 3, 1 4, 2 3, 2 4, 1 3, 1 4, 3 4, 2 2, 1 Luke Voit Jersey