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Mile high but inches from
defeat
Sharks hold on to beat Colorado
5-4
The Sharks brushed aside their disappointing
performance in Calgary on New Year's Eve, kicking off 2019 with a hair-raising
5-4 win in Denver over the host Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks jumped out to a
5-1 lead, before allowing the Avalanche to score three straight goals to cut
the lead to a single goal. Martin Jones stopped 31 shots, including a Nathan
Mackinnon shot from the doorstep at the final horn to preserve the Sharks first
win of the new year.
MacKinnon came within inches completing an
improbable comeback, but Jones was Johnny on the spot. The Sharks goaltender
had to track that pass out of the right corner, sliding to his right to cutoff
the angle, and snuffing Mackinnon's shot.
It shouldn't have been that
close. The Sharks looked like gangbusters through the first 40 minutes of play,
but they let the 3rd period slip out of their grasp. Colorado could have rolled
over after falling behind by 4 goals, but they persevered.
San Jose
took advantage of a Tyson Barrie hooking penalty a minute into the game when
Joe Pavelski fired a shot past Avalanche goaltender Phillip Grubauer from the
left dot. The Sharks worked the puck well on the man advantage, ending the
sequence when Logan Couture fed Pavelski for a one time chance. The goal was
Pavelski's 24th of the season.
Matt Calvert tied the game at 8:20,
when the Avalanche worked the puck to the right corner where former Shark Matt
Nieto lured a pair of Shark defenders. Calvert slid to the high slot where
Nieto set him up. Four Sharks stood watching as Calvert unloaded on a shot that
eluded Martin Jones.
Justin Braun was injured with 6 minutes left in
the period and had to be helped off the ice. The Sharks defenseman was favoring
his right leg as two teammates helped him get to the bench.
Colorado
created issues for themselves when Calvert followed Patrik Nemeth to the
penalty box 41 seconds apart. San Jose converted on the 5-on-3 when Brent Burns
blasted a shot from the high slot for his 7th tally of the season.
The
goal allowed Nemeth to rejoin the action, but San Jose could not add on to
their lead with Calvert still in the penalty box.
Evander Kane made it
a 3-1 Sharks lead 4:15 into the 2nd period when he grabbed a mishandled puck
behind the Avalanche goal with speed, then skated out to the right flat before
lifting a shot home for his 12th goal of the season. Grubauer seemed unprepared
for the shot, which was not of the tricky variety.
Joonas Donskoi
followed Kane's goal with a highlight reel tally of his 2 minutes later when he
carried the puck around the left post, flying behind the Colorado net, and
tucking the puck around the off post with Grubauer diving to cover the right
post.
Donskoi's goal would spell the end of the road for
Grubauer, who was replaced by Pavel Francouz.
San Jose pushed their
lead to 5-1 with 3:27 left in the period when Lukas Radil jammed home a rebound
from the right post. The Sharks had a 3-on-1 led by Pavelski who tried to snap
a give-and-go chance with Logan Couture. Francouz denied the Sharks captain,
but the puck slipped over to the right side where Radil was lurking. The young
Czech forward made the deposit for his 5th goal of the season.
Tyson
Jost responded 16 seconds later by putting a shot past Jones for his 5th of the
season.
Barrie cut the sharks lead to 5-3 with 7:48 left in
regulation. The Avalanche forward grabbed a Joakim Ryan turnover in the slot
before snapping an 18-foot shot past Jones for his 5th goal of the season.
A Brendan Dillon interference penalty with 5:22 to play in regulation
allowed the Avalance to cut the Sharks lead to a lone goal. Jost converted his
second goal of the game by blowing a shot past Jones from the slot. The Sharks
had killed all but 2 seconds of the Dillon penalty before Colorado was able to
move the puck to the slot where Jost answered.
Colorado pulled
Francouz with 1:45 to play and came within inches of tying the game at the
final buzzer.
Game Notes:
* San Jose scored 5-plus
goals in 3-straight road games for the first time in franchise history
* Justin Braun tried to skate at the start of the 2nd period, but he quickly
figured out that he couldn't continue. That forced Erik Karlsson to skate 31
minutes of ice time in the game.
* Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski were
named the game's 1st and 3rd star respectively. Each player recorded a goal and
3 assists for a 4 point night.
* Marcus Sorensen had a tough night,
turning in a -3 plus/minus. He didn't record a single shot, block or hit in the
game.
* The Sharks will face one of the biggest tests of the season
when they return home to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The
Lightning did not lose a single game in regulation in the month of December.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
| COL |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 24 (Couture, Burns), 2:15, (pp). 2, COL, Calvert 6 (Nieto, Mackinnon),
8:20. 3, SJ, Burns 7 (E. Karlsson, Pavelski), 17:14, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 4, SJ, Kane
12 (Burns, Pavelski), 4:15. 5, SJ, Donskoi 10 (Burns, Vlasic), 6:18. 6, SJ,
Radil 5 (Pavelski, Couture), 16:33. 7, COL, Jost 5 (Compher, Kerfoot), 16:49.
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| 3rd period - 8, COL,
Barrie 5 (unassisted), 12:12. 9, COL, Jost 6 (Girard, Kierfoot), 16:36, (pp).
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| 1st period - Barrie, COL
(hooking), 1:07; Goodrow, SJ (cross checking), 9:48; Nemeth, COL (holding),
15:52; Calvert, COL (high sticking), 16:33. |
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| 2nd period - E.
Karlsson, SJ (tripping), 17:14; Goddrow, SJ (hooking), 20:00. |
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| 3rd period - Dillon, SJ
(interference), 14:38. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
35 |
31 |
| COL - Grubauer |
14 |
10 |
| COL - Francouz |
13 |
12 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
7 |
14 |
6 |
27 |
| COL |
11 |
14 |
10 |
35 |
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| Referees:
Chmielewski, McCauley. Linesmen: Brisebois, Daisy. |
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