If you looked at the Sharks schedule this
week, it seemed unlikely that they would wake up from their early season funk.
After a would be win slipped through their goaltending against Los Angeles on
Tuesday, the Sharks pinned back their ears and beat the two best teams in the
NHL including in improbable 3-2 overtime victory over the Colorado Avalanche on
Saturday afternoon at SAP Center. Philipp Kurashev scored a pair of goals,
including the game winner in the extra period and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov
made 36 saves against the best 5-on-5 team in the league.
The
Avalanche did play at a disadvantage, in that they played in Vegas on Friday
night. The Sharks will play with that same disadvantage on Sunday afternoon
when they face Detroit.
Those things even out, but the sharks don't
care. They earned 4 points against two rock solid teams and are starting to get
rewarded for their hard work. The inexperience has been on full display, but
Saturday's win was a demonstration of young legs and perseverance.
Kurashev was a forgotten man in Chicago, but the Sharks picked him up off the
scrap heap and he's responded with 7 points in his last 4 games (4 goals, 3
assists).
There were two notable points in the win. First, they shook
off an early goal, not letting it change their approach and second, the penalty
kill didn't offer up easy goals for the opposition.
The Sharks
faithful weren't even fully situated in their seats before the Avalanche put a
puck past Yaroslav Askarov. Martin Necas threw a puck on net from the left wing
boards 30 seconds into the contest. The puck was destined to sail wide right of
the goal, but it clipped Timothy Liljegren's skate, redirecting past Askarov.
The Avalanche offensive pressure was sustained for a solid 9 minutes.
Colorado recorded 9 shots on goal before San Jose would register any pressure
on former Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood.
Even after Ilya
Solovyov took a high-sticking penalty at 5:55 of the period, San Jose could not
get any rubber directed at Blackwood until the midway point of the period.
The Sharks finally gathered themselves in the final
5 minutes of the period. Macklin Celebrini tied the game with a rocket from
between the circles with 1:39 remaining. Tyler Toffoli setup his linemate with
a pass from the right wing boards as Celebrini gained the zone.
Taylor
Makar just missed on a scoring chance when his shot from the left side slipped
through Askarov. The Avalanche forward spotted the loose puck and tried to get
a stick on it but Askarov was able to lean back and get a glove between the
puck and the goal line.
Philipp Kurashev put the sharks up 2-1 at 4:07
of the 2nd period when he gathered a Ty Dellandrea feedm then raced up the left
side and lifted a shot over Blackwood's left shoulder for this 4th goal of the
season and 3rd in the last 3 games.
Colorado tied the game on a "you
don't see that often" goal 9:10 into the middle frame. Nathan MacKinnon was
charging on net when he worked a shot on net that Askarov stopped. Sharks
forward Jeff Skinner was on the opposite side of Askarov when he dislodged the
net. MacKinnon had circled back to the puck and would have easily put it into
the net if not for the whistle.
After a brief conversation by the
officials, referee Furman South announced that the goal was being awarded as it
would have been scored had the net not been dislodged. The officiating crew
then confirmed their call with a video review.
Askarov gave the
matinee crowd a heart attack at the 9 minute mark of the 3rd period when he
skated to the corner to play a puck. He elected to leave it as Parker Kelly
crashed in on him but he lost his footing and crumpled to the ice. A lunging
poke check from his knees was the only thing that prevented the Avalanche from
grabbing the lead.
In the overtime period San Jose had a 2-on-1 break
early but Blackwood's blocker save denied Dmitry Orlov. The Avalanche would
muster a single shot in the overtime, but it was Kurashev's snipe from the left
side that ended things.
It was Askarov's 2nd win in his 7th start of
the season.
Game Notes: * Timothy Liljegren was hit
with a puck to the face after it was deflected onto the Sharks bench. He had to
be helped to the locker room.
* Macklin Celebrini extended his scoring
streak to 7 games with his 1st period goal. Tyler Toffoli extended his streak
to 4 games with an assist on Philipp Kurashev's 2nd period goal. That goal also
extended Kurashevs scoring streak to 4 games and his goal-scoring streak to 3
games.
* Former Sharks defenseman Brent Burns made his first
appearance at SAP Center as a member of the Avalanche. Burns played the last
three years in Carolina. Burns best chance came with 12 seconds remaining in
regulation when he fired a shot from the slot that Askarov gloved.
*
Yaroslav made 36 saves, which is a career high when a victory was attached.
* The win snapped a 12-game winless streak against Colorado. The last
Sharks win against the Avalanche came in 2021.
