Avalanche Clinch Berth to Stanley Cup Playoffs in 4-3 OT Win Over Sharks

First step of the journey checked off.
The Colorado Avalanche's title defense is official as the team clinched its sixth-straight berth to Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night in the first of two-straight meetings.

For the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 1A) displayed a sensational effort as he netted the overtime winner to secure Colorado's two-point victory and in doing so, eclipsed the 100-point (36G, 64A) for the first time ever in his already impressive career.
Evan Rodrigues and Jack Johnson also scored, while Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen each handed out two assists. Seven different players recorded at least a point to get on the scoresheet. In net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 28 of the 31 shots he faced as he earned his 36th win of the season. The Avalanche are now 46-24-6 for their season record and have 98 points just like Dallas and Minnesota for the top of the Central Division standings, but hold the advantage as they have a game in hand over both teams.
For the Sharks, Kevin Labanc scored twice, while Jacob Peterson added a power-play strike. Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves on 42 shots in the overtime loss.

GAME SUMMARY:

Heading into the game - and the first match of a four-game road trip in California - Colorado understood the challenge and stakes of not just clinching a playoff spot, but the goal of taking over the top of their division.
"[It was a really] entertaining hockey game and you have to be happy with the effort," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "We're facing our share of adversity but the guys that are healthy and able to play are digging in and playing hard as a team. That's all you can ask for wishing the best for ourselves when it comes to some guys returning from injury."
The Avalanche got off to a dominant 2-0 lead and 13-7 advantage in shots over the Sharks following the first 20 minutes of play.
Colorado netted two early goals from J. Johnson and Rodrigues in the span of just 1:55.
The Avalanche broke the ice at 4:29 as Denis Malgin grabbed the puck along the boards outside the left faceoff circle and cycled it back out to the blueline for Bowen Byram. The 21-year-old dished a horizontal feed over to his d-partner where J. Johnson unleashed a heavy one timer from distance. The shot took a fortunate deflection off the skate of Henry Thrun and beat Kahkonen.

Colorado kept the pressure on and wasted no time in doubling its lead. On an extended offensive zone shift - where Rantanen nearly tallied his 50th goal of the season but his backhanded in tight rang off the crossbar - MacKinnon took a pass from Rantanen in the left faceoff circle, turn and sent a backhander on net as he swiveled. At the net front, Rodrigues picked up the pass, turned and - in a sweeping motion - tucked the puck past Kahkonen at 6:24.

The middle frame saw a little more evenly played action as the Sharks offense jolted with some life - and even found the back of the net - but despite going 0-for-2 on two power plays, Colorado was able to add a late strike to hold on to a 3-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
The Avalanche received a power play 2:54 (Jacob MacDonald tripping) into the frame and again at 14:29 (Tomas Hertl unsportsmanlike conduct), but the Sharks' penalty kill and Kahkonen held them off on both attempts.
Georgiev's workload nearly doubled in the second period where he faced 11 shots, compared to the seven he faced in the first frame. Even so, the netminder came up with some pivotal stops on San Jose as he denied Fabian Zetterlund seven minutes into the second period with a big pad save and also smothered a one timer in slot from Danil Gushchin with under eight minutes left in the period.

In between those chances, the Sharks did manage to beat Georgiev. At 12:55, as a two-on-one rush materialized and countered into the Avalanche's defensive zone, Labanc skated into the left faceoff circle and sniped a wrist shot to the far side past Georgiev's glove to trim Colorado's lead 2-1.
After failing to convert on their second power play - which generated some promising looks - MacKinnon fired a shot past Kahkonen to restore the Avalanche's two-goal lead. After MacKinnon won an offensive zone faceoff draw, Rantanen dropped the puck out to the point for Toews. As MacKinnon curled out from the center of the circle, Toews snapped a pass back to him and the centerman ripped a one-timer into the net to give Colorado a 3-1 lead at 17:54.

The Avalanche received their third power play just 1:20 into the frame as Nico Sturm - who was on the team's 2022 Stanley Cup-winning roster - went to the box for hooking. The Avs didn't manage to convert and Georgiev came up with a timely shorthanded chance from Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Shortly after, the Sharks tilted the ice as received their first power play of the night - at 4:59 as MacDermid was called for tripping - and they capitalized to trim their deficit down 3-2 at 5:50.
On a tic-tac-toe passing play, Logan Couture sent a pass to the near post for Gushchin. The Sharks winger played the puck to the net front where Peterson chipped his shot over Georgiev's stick and right shoulder for the power-play strike.
Soon enough, the Sharks secured a 3-3 equalizer. Noah Gregor picked up a pass from MacDonald and carried it around the net and attempted a wraparound, but Georgiev denied it. The rebound shot out into the low slot where Labanc corralled it, turned past Samuel Girard and fired a wrist shot past Georgiev's glove in tight for the equalizer at 7:11.
After the power-play goal, San Jose came to life and dominated the offensive zone, but the Avalanche managed to hang on. With the game headed to overtime, Colorado officially clinched its spot in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In overtime, Toews intercepted a pass and sprung MacKinnon for a breakaway. The centerman carried the puck between the circles, stickhandled and roofed his shot past Kahkonen for the OT game winner and his 100th-career point.

"He's come up close [to hitting 100 points in a single season] a couple times," Bednar said of MacKinnon. "I'm sure he's been really happy about that. He had some big efforts here recently. He had a three-point night tonight so I am really happy to see him hit that one. Hopefully, Mikko will be able to [hit the 50-goal mark] here soon."

GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

The team entered the matchup following a theme that's burdened them all season long as they continue to face adversity due to injury as Cale Makar and Darren Helm were both sidelined due to lower-body injuries so Kurtis MacDermid and Ben Meyers drew in the lineup in their place. Even so, the Avalanche approached this trip bringing along the entirety of their team - injured players included - and staff as a bonding mechanism and in hopes of sharing a moment like Tuesday night where they punched their ticket to the postseason and celebrated MacKinnon's 100-point accomplishment.
"We have guys on the ice working their way to return and brought all the staff along on this road trip in particular," Bednar said. "With all the players coming we wanted to get everyone together. We have a day off tomorrow that hopefully the guys can enjoy and you know, do something as a team and you know, so we feel like it's a good time of year before we finish up here next week to to get everyone together and have a little team bonding and make sure we're moving in the right direction for playoffs.Then again, hopefully we get a few of these guys back off."

NOTEWORTHY:
NEXT GAME:
The Avalanche continue their four-game trip in California as they remain in San Jose for another matchup on Thursday night. The puck drops between the Avs and Sharks at 8:30 p.m. MT.