The Sharks are in the home stretch of their
season. With the playoffs an afterthought, the Sharks hosted the Colorado
Avalanche in the front end of a rare back-to-back home series against the same
opponent on Tuesday night. With the NHL standings basement in their view, San
Jose extended their point streak to 4 games by losing to the Avalanche 4-3 in
overtime. The Sharks overcame a 3-1 deficit in the 3rd period to get to the
extra period. but Nathan MacKinnon converted 3:13 into the extra period to lead
Colorado.
The Avalanche clinched a playoff spot by virtue of reaching
the overtime, but MacKinnon added some icing to Colorado's night by scoring his
36th goal of the season to knock off the Sharks.
It was yet another
loss, but by reaching the overtime, San Jose earned another point to separate
themselves from the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets who sit at the
bottom of the NHL standings with 56 points. The Sharks now sit at 60 points
with 5 games to play. Chicago, Columbus and Anaheim all have one fewer game
than San Jose.
The Avalanche grabbed a 1-0 lead 4:29 into the contest
on a fortuitous deflection out in front of goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. Jack
Johnson cranked a shot from the top of the right circle. hitting defenseman
Henry Thrun in the leg guard, which changed the trajectory of the puck enough
to fool Kahkonen.
Colorado doubled their lead 2 minutes later when
Evan Rodrigues converted his 15th goal of the season. Nathan MacKinnon drove in
on the right side before trying a back-handed spin-o-rama attempt that Khakonen
stopped, but Rodrigues was parked on the doorstep and slipped a backhand chance
of his own around the netminder's right pad.
Kevin Labanc cut the
Avalanche lead to a lone goal by scoring his 14th goal of the season 12:55 into
the 2nd period. The Sharks winger carried the puck into the Colorado zone on
the left side before snapping a shot that beat Alexandar Georgiev, catching the
upper right corner of the net.
Nathan MacKinnon pushed the Avs back up
by a pair by powering a shot through Kahkonen with 2:06 remaining in the
period. MacKinnon turned on a shot from 20 feet out that hit the Sharks
goaltender in the pad but the shot had enough on it to carry it over the goal
line.
Denis Malgin should have padded the Avalanche lead in the final
minute when he found himself with the puck and a wide open net, but Kahkonen's
right leg pad was outstretched enough to deny a would be goal.
Jacob Peterson scored his 2nd goal of the season at
5:50 after Kurtis Macdermid was sent off for tripping a minute earlier. Danil
Gushchin stick-handled the puck behind the Avalanche net, before sliding a pass
out front where Peterson swatted at it. The Sharks forward didn't catch the
puck squarely, but he chipped it over Georgiev and into the Colorado goal.
Labanc tied the game at 7:11 on a shot from in tight after he gathered
the puck and pivoted 180 to face the net and lift a shot past Georgiev to make
it a 3-3 game.
MacKinnon finished off the Sharks on a breakaway chance
after Devon Toews fired a lead pass up the right wing.
Game
Notes: * The Sharks recalled left wing Danil Gushchin two days
after they returned him to the San Jose Barracuda. The rookie forward scored
his 1st NHL goal in his first NHL game on Saturday in the Sharks big 7-2 win
over Arizona.
* Tomas Hertl was injured early in the 2nd period and
missed a good chunk of the period, but returned with 8 minutes remaining in the
frame, only to leave with 2 minutes remaining in the period.
* Kaapo
Kahkonen made 38 saves in the loss. The netminder was the best Sharks player on
the ice, stopping several shots to keep San Jose in the game.
* Evgeny
Svechnikov returned to the lineup after missing the last 7 games due to an
upper body injury.
* Alexander Barabanov missed his 4th straight game,
and there is talk that the Sharks may simply shut him down for the remainder of
the season for an undisclosed injury.
