Rapid Recap: Avalanche 3, Sharks 0

Mikko Rantanen factored on all three goals and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena on Friday. It was the 1,000th win in Avs history.
Grubauer, Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi all were playing in their first games since seeing time on the league's COVID-protocol list. Grubauer's shutout was his sixth of the year while Rantanen, who has a goal and two assists, had a three-point performance for the fourth time this season. Donskoi also found the scoresheet with an assist.
Cale Makar had a goal and an assist while captain Gabriel Landeskog also found the back of the net. Makar and Landeskog's tallies both came on the power play, the ninth time the Avs have scored multiple man-advantage markers in a game this year.

Nathan MacKinnon saw his 15-game point streak come to an end. It was a career high and the longest streak in the NHL this year.
Colorado and San Jose conclude the back-to-back set on Saturday. The Avs are a combined 11-1-3 in back-to-backs, now with a 7-1-0 mark in the first game while sporting a 4-0-3 record in the second.

THE GOALS

1st Period
11:13 COL (1-0) - PPG, Cale Makar's shot from the blue line was deflected by Gabriel Landeskog into the net.
13:13 COL (2-0) - PPG, Cale Makar scored his sixth of the year with a shot from the point that got through traffic.
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
18:21 COL (3-0) - ENG, Mikko Rantatnen scored into an empty net from the neutral zone.
Final: Avalanche - 3 | Sharks - 0

3 STARS

Selected by Colorado Hockey Coach of the Game: Molli Mott (Rocky Mountain Lady Roughriders)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 2 for 4
San Jose: 0 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made his first start since April 12 and stopped all 21 shots he faced.
San Jose:Martin Jones allowed two goals on 35 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

The win was the Avalanche's 1,000th regular-season victory since moving to Denver. Colorado has played in 1,970 games since moving to the Mile High City from Quebec in 1995 and now owns a 1000-727-101-142 all time record. Only five other franchises have over 1,000 wins during that time span: Detroit (1059), Dallas (1023), Pittsburgh (1022), Washington (1011) and St. Louis (1004).

NOTEBOOK

Philipp Grubauer made his first start since April 12 and stopped 21 shots to record his sixth shutout of the season and improve to 26-8-1 on the year. He now has 17 career clean sheets, with five of those coming against San Jose... Nathan MacKinnon saw his 15-game point streak come to an end. It was a new career high and the longest streak in the NHL this season, and the longest by an Avalanche player since Paul Stastny's 20-game run in 2006-07... Cale Makar scored and added an assist to register his eighth multi-point game in 2020-21. Both of his points came on the power play, his fourth game with two man-advantage points this season… Makar improved to 37 points (six goals, 31 assists) in 36 contests this season, the only NHL defenseman to average more than a point-per-game in 2020-21... Mikko Rantanen recorded two helpers and scored into an empty net in his return to the lineup, his fourth three-point outing, 17th game with more than one point this year and his sixth contest with two assists.... Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon and San Jose's Kevin LaBanc fought at 9:38 of the third period. It was MacKinnon's first fight of the year... The Avalanche scored two power-play goals for the ninth time this year. The team is 7-2-0 when tallying twice on the man advantage... It appeared that San Jose's Tomas Hertl scored at 10:09 of the third period, but the Avalanche challenged the play for offsides and it was overturned... Colorado is now 3-for-3 on coach's challenges this season... The Avs finished April with a 9-4-0 record. Colorado's nine wins and 18 points are the franchise's most ever in the month… April was the Avalanche's 13th consecutive "winning" month going back to February 2019, extending their franchise mark. The previous record was 10 straight winning months from March 2000 to Oct. 2001... Colorado is 13-0-1 in its last 14 games at Ball Arena, tied for the third-longest home point streak in franchise history... The Avs have won five straight on home ice... The contest was Colorado's first at home since April 12. The club is in a stretch that sees it playing 14-of-17 on the road from April 5-May 10... The Avalanche is 8-0-0 on Fridays this season... The outing opened Colorado's eighth back-to-back of the season. The Avs are a combined 11-1-3 in back-to-backs, now with a 7-1-0 mark in the first game while sporting a 4-0-3 record in the second.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Captain with the good hair.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer and forwards Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi all returned to the lineup after having stints on the league's COVID protocol list. Grubauer made the start in net for the 34th time this year and first since April 12. Rantanen began the game on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, while Donskoi was on a trio with Carl Soderberg and Nazem Kadri. Tyson Jost centered the second line with Andre Burakovsky and Valeri Nichushkin, while Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was between Kiefer Sherwood and J.T. Compher on the fourth combination. The defensive pairs remained the same.

INJURY UPDATE

Samuel Girard left the game midway through the third period after falling into the endboards and did not return. Ryan Graves left the game early in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Bowen Byram (upper body) and Logan O'Connor (lower body) are each week-to-week after suffering setbacks in their recoveries, while Matt Calvert (upper body) and Jacob MacDonald (lower body) are both week-to-week as well with their ailments. Forward Brandon Saad is also out for two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury. Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) is out for the remainder of the year, and Erik Johnson (upper body) could return deep into the playoffs.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche and Sharks wrap up their back-to-back set on Saturday at Ball Arena before completing their four-game series on Monday and Wednesday in San Jose.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
34 Carl Soderberg - 91 Nazem Kadri -72 Joonas Donskoi
44 Kiefer Sherwood - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
40 Devan Dubnyk