Rapid Recap: Avalanche 7, Sharks 3

Six different Colorado Avalanche players scored on Tuesday night as the team opened its two-game series against the San Jose Sharks with a 7-3 victory at Ball Arena.
Cale Makar led the Avs with three assists, Brandon Saad scored twice and Andre Burakovsky also picked up multiple points with two helpers. Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves, improving to 4-2-0 on the season.

Joonas Donskoi, Samuel Girard, Valeri Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen (on the power play) and Devon Toews joined Saad on the scoresheet with tallies. Nichushkin also had a two-point night as well by adding an assist to go along with his short-handed goal.
San Jose's Ryan Donato opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Colorado ended the opening frame with three markers in the final 3:45 to take a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission. The Avs found the back of the net two more times early in the second period, completing a 5-0 run in a matter of 9:33.
Noah Gregor added the Sharks' second goal of the night at 7:44 of the middle period, but Colorado responded with two more tallies from Toews and Saad. San Jose recorded another marker in the third.
The Avalanche outshot the Sharks 42-30, including by a 29-15 margin after two periods of play.
It marked the second straight home game that Colorado has scored seven or more goals, as the team won 8-0 against the St. Louis Blues in its previous contest at Ball Arena on Jan. 15.
Statistics
|
Photo Gallery
|
Highlights

THE GOALS

1st Period
10:39 SJS (0-1) - Ryan Donato knocked in a bouncing puck near the goal line to begin the game's scoring.
16:15 COL (1-1) - Erik Johnson's shot from the right point was redirected into the back of the Sharks' net by Joonas Donskoi.
17:01 COL (2-1) - Brandon Saad recorded his second goal of the season with a backhand shot in the low slot that went five-hole after Cale Makar fed him the puck.
19:21 COL (3-1) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen scored with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass by Nathan MacKinnon.
2nd Period
1:32 COL (4-1) - SHG, Valeri Nichushkin took advantage of a turnover at the Sharks blue line and scored unassisted on a breakaway.
5:48 COL (5-1) - Samuel Girard recorded his first marker of the campaign on a wrist shot from the high slot during a delayed San Jose penalty.
7:44 SJS (5-2) - Noah Gregor tallied on a backhand shot during a rush up the ice.
13:30 COL (6-2) - Devon Toews scored his third goal of the season after the puck rebounded out to him at the right circle.
15:01 COL (7-2) - Brandon Saad recorded his second of the game after receiving a pass from Andre Burakovsky.
3rd Period
12:43 SJS (7-3) - Logan Couture added another tally for San Jose with Ryan Donato and Kevin Lebanc picking up assists.
Final: Avalanche - 7 | Sharks - 3

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 5
San Jose: 0 for 5

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer denied 27 shots in the victory.
San Jose: Martin Jones started and made 14-of-19 saves in 25:47 before being replaced by Devan Dubnyk early in the second period. Dubnyk stopped 21-of-23 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Mikko Rantanen scored for the sixth consecutive game, extending his career-long goal streak and moving into a tie for the second-longest such streak in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). He is the first Colorado player to tally in six straight outings since Nathan MacKinnon's season-opening, six-game streak from Oct. 4-16, 2018.
Since the Avs moved to Denver, only four other skaters have scored in six or more straight contests: MacKinnon, Milan Hejduk (seven games), Joe Sakic (seven games, twice; six games once) and Peter Forsberg (six games, twice).

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche began its eight-game season series against the Sharks and the first of four in Denver… Colorado has now won three straight regular-season contests against San Jose dating back to 2019-20, the first time it has accomplished that feat since winning seven in a row from Jan. 19, 2002 to Nov. 11, 2003… Colorado scored three times in a matter of 3:06 at the end of the first period, the quickest three goals scored by the team this season (previous was three goals in 3:27 on Jan. 15 vs. St. Louis)… Cale Makar recorded three assists for the second time this season. It was the fifth time in his career that he's recorded three or more points in a game… Valeri Nichushkin scored his first goal of the campaign, which was also the team's first while shorthanded this year. It was Nichushkin's second career short-handed tally… Rookie Bowen Byram led the Avs in ice time with a career-high 21:14... Nathan MacKinnon recorded a season-high six shots on goal to mark his 227th straight regular-season game with a shot, tying the franchise record previously set by Joe Sakic from Nov. 17, 1995 to Jan. 12, 1999... Samuel Girard appeared in his 227th consecutive regular-season game, passing Karlis Skrastins for the second-longest ironman streak by an Avalanche defenseman (since 1995-96)… Colorado killed off five man-disadvantage situations and has yet to allow a power-play goal on home ice (11-for-11).

QUOTABLE

Kiefer Sherwood on making his Avalanche debut: "I'm very excited for this opportunity and thankful. I'm just going to try and stay in the present and try to help our team by creating good energy and have it display on the ice."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Grubauer locked in.

ROSTER REPORT

Defenseman Erik Johnson played his second game of the season. Johnson didn't skate in the previous three contests while working on his conditioning after missing all of training camp and the first two contests of the season while in the league's COVID-19 protocol. Ryan Graves also returned to the lineup after being a scratch on Sunday in Anaheim. Forward Kiefer Sherwood made his Avalanche debut after signing with the club in the offseason as a free agent. He began the contest on a line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Tyson Jost. Philipp Grubauer started in goal for the second-straight game, while Hunter Miska was the backup netminder. Defenseman Greg Pateryn cleared waivers earlier in the day and was assigned to the Avalanche's taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Matt Calvert missed his first game of the season with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Goaltender Pavel Francouz has yet to skate after suffering a lower-body injury at practice on Jan. 18, and head coach Jared Bednar doesn't have a timeline for his return.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche and Sharks face-off again on Thursday at Ball Arena to close out the two-game set.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 4 Bowen Byram
27 Ryan Graves - 6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska