The prodigal goaltending son, Mackenzie
Blackwood, made his return to SAP Center on Thursday night as he and the
Colorado Avalanche came calling. The Sharks played on rewind, blowing a 3rd
period lead for all three games of their home stand, including another letdown
against the Avalanche. Colorado scored 3 goals in the final 20 minutes of the
contest to take a 4-2 decision over the host Sharks.
If repetition is
the key to improvement, then the Sharks got a painful dose against the team
they swapped goaltenders with 10 days earlier. Blackwood played good enough to
earn his team a win, but it wasn't a perfect performance. The former Shark made
32 saves in the victory.
The man he was traded for, Alexander
Georgiev, also turned in a decent performance, but was victimized by the Sharks
penalty kill, which allowed a pair of goals on four chances.
Georgiev
finished the night with a 27 save performance. His only real miscue came on one
of the four goals he surrendered.
Colorado used a familiar recipe to
put goals in to the Sharks net early. Wait for San Jose to take a penalty and
cash in on the power play. After Carl Grundstrom was sent off for a high stick,
Valeri Nichushkin slid a rebound under Alexandar Georgiev's left pad from the
doorstep 3:40 into the game to grab the 1-0 lead. Cale Makar fired a shot wide
of the right post, but the rebound kicked back out to Nichushkin who was
loitering out in front.
Blackwood settled in early and flashed what
was an easier save than it looked at the midway mark of the period when Will
Smith snapped a shot from the right side. Smith took a split second too long to
control the puck, delaying his release and allowing Blackwood the time
necessary to cover the right side of the net.
The Avalanche controlled
the majority of the period and the Sharks were guilty of chasing the puck. That
was not reflected on the shot counter, which only had Colorado out-shooting the
Sharks 12-10 in the frame.
Jake Walman and Casey Mittlestadt mixed
things up in the final minute of the period, but after a seemingly standard
scrum was finished, the Sharks found themselves back on the penalty kill with
Walman earning a double minor for roughing.
94 seconds of power play
time would carry over to the 2nd period for the Avalanche. The Sharks did a
nice job of negating the Avalanche advantage and keep the deficit at a singel
goal.
Carl Grundstrom would help the Sharks draw even at 4:26 of the
period by depositing his first goal as a Shark. Jan Rutta fired a shot from the
high slot that Blackwood stopped, but the rebound slid right to Grundstrom on
the left side. Blackwood was well out of his net to have any chance on the
quick put back chance for San Jose.
San Jose grabbed the 2-1 lead at
9:29 after William Eklund slammed home a loose puck from the right side. Both
teams were chasing the pin-balling puck after it flew off the end boards. Cody
Ceci and Luke Kunin got a piece of it before it deflected to Eklund, who
converted for his 6th goal of the season.
Avalanche head coach
challenged the goal for a high touch on Eklund, but it unsuccessful. That
earned the Sharks their first power play of the night as Colorado was assessed
a delay of game penalty. The Sharks would only generate a single shot on goal
during the 2-minute stint.
Barclay Goodrow was baited into a holding penalty in
the 3rd period when Makar felt Goodrow's stick on his side. The Avalanche
defenseman grabbed a hold of the stick and went for a ride.
That
turned out to be a crucial infraction because the Avalanche converted less than
30 seconds into the power play. Mikko Rantanen pushed a puck past Georgiev to
tie the game at 2-2.
Special teams misfires was the story of the
night. In addition to giving up a pair of power play goals, the Sharks could do
nothing with 4 chances on the man advantage including a pair of back-to-back
chances after Rantanen scored.
Will Smith continued his string of
dangerous passes that ended up in the possession of the opposition. Smith's
backhand attempt near the top of the Colorado zone was grabbed by Logan
O'Connor who fed Joel Kiviranta who raced on Georgiev and snapped it home for
his 6th of the season and 3-2 Avalanche lead.
Kiviranta added his
second of the period 3 minutes later to end the Sharks chances of ruining
Blackwood's return.
Game Notes: * Yaroslav Askarov was
recalled on Wednesday and served as Alexandar Georgiev's backup. Vitek Vanecek
was an injury scratch while he nurses a head injury sustained on Tuesday.
Vanecek was hit in the head by a puck that sailed onto the Sharks bench,
striking the goaltender in the head.
* Shakir Mukhamadullin was
inserted into the 2nd power play group, replacing Timothy Liljegren who was
scratched from the game.
* Former Sharks goaltender Mackenzie
Blackwood is still waiting on a new mask to be delivered, so he's played
Thursday game in his Sharks themed helmet.
* With the Avalanche
scoring two goals on the power play, the two teams netted out the plus/minus to
a 0 for both squads. Luke Kunin and Joel Kiviranta were both +2, which led
their respective teams.
* Macklin Celebrini's scoring streak was
snapped at 4 games, but the kid had an incredible play in the 3rd period when
he bounced a puck off the boards behind him to his left in order to evade a
defender and setup a scoring chance after grabbing the puck on his right side.
The talent is simply world class.
