Strong Defensive Play Leads to Series Sweep

The Colorado Avalanche limited the chances the San Jose Sharks could create and was patient offensively to earn a 3-0 victory at Ball Arena on Thursday.
The contest was scoreless until almost 50 minutes were logged, but Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer continued to stop every shot he faced and the team scored three times in the final 10:05 of the game to earn its second-straight victory.
The win marked Grubauer's second shutout of the year just eight contests into the season, matching his total clean slates from the 2019-20 campaign and one shy of his career best for a campaign. He is tied for the NHL lead with five wins and his two shutouts are also tied for first.

"It feels good to get the win, I don't really care much about the shutout, but it's definitely nice to have," said the German netminder. "We knew they were coming a little bit harder, or you knew it was going to be a different game after that first game we played against them, so we knew they were going to come hard and they did, but we shut them down pretty good, I think. We didn't take too many penalties, that was kind of an issue in the first game, but guys did an amazing job again keeping the pucks to the outside and letting me read the game and we played as a unit."
It was the second time in three days that the Avs and Sharks were facing each other after Colorado earned a 7-3 win on Tuesday. In Thursday's outing, the Avalanche held the Sharks to 21 shots on net, showcasing an attention to detail on the defensive side of the puck.

"I think it's been our focus. Closing on guys, playing with speed, playing in their end," forward Brandon Saad said. "I think that's the biggest thing is when we are playing in the offensive zone with the puck it's hard for another team to get on the forecheck and create chances, so that's been a major focus for us."
The Avs' netminder has noticed that as well and describes the defensive effort of his teammates as "phenomenal."
"I think that counts for every line, forwards and defensemen on the ice. Forwards working back and helping our D out and our D shutting down and breaking out the pucks, it's what we need," said Grubauer. "PK as well, I think it was big at the end there and that's all we can do, and we got to get ready for the next one, so great job by everybody."

The Avalanche took a penalty with 3:30 remaining in the contest and although the Sharks pulled their goaltender to make it a 6-on-4 power-play opportunity, Colorado did not allow San Jose to score with the extra skaters and has now killed 17 straight penalties. The team's penalty kill is 28-for-31 (90.3 percent) this season, ranking third in the league, and has not allowed a power-play goal on home ice (15-for-15)--one of three teams in the NHL that hasn't surrendered a man-advantage tally in its own barn.
Offensively for Colorado, Thursday's game was a contrast to what occurred when the clubs met on Tuesday. In the first matchup, the Avalanche scored seven times in the first two periods and picked up a 7-3 victory.
Though the second meeting in the two-game set was much tighter for the majority of the outing, the Avs were still able to earn the two points in the standings and move into a ttie for second place in the West Division (5-3-0, 10 points).
"It is always nice to get into those kinds of games because that's what playoffs is going to be like. You are not always going to score six-plus goals," noted Grubauer. "In the playoffs, things are going to get tightened up, like there's a little bit more attention to detail and it's going to be tougher to score some goals. Every little situation matters like we learned last year in the playoffs, so playing in those tight games I think is a benefit for us because if we skate and play our game there's not many teams that can beat us."
Grubauer has had a clean sheet in seven outings as a member of the Avalanche, moving into a tie with Craig Anderson for fifth place on the franchise's all-time shutouts list.

3-POINTER FOR KADRI

Nazem Kadri factored on all three Avalanche goals in the contest, scoring twice and adding an assist on Andre Burakovsky's tally.
Kadri's first of the game came after he was able to locate a loose puck in the front of the net, and he scored his second by tipping a Cale Makar shot past the San Jose goaltender during a late power play.

"It felt great. It's a game of patience, especially our division specifically. I think there's a lot of teams that play lock down defense and you are going to have to earn everything you get so I understand that," Kadri said. "Previous games it felt like I've been on the net and just missing quality opportunities, so I think if you just stay with it and the guys I'm playing with, the team I'm playing with, eventually it's going to come."
The 30-year-old center's first goal stood as the game-winner, the 23rd of his career, and he now has 399 points (183 goals, 216 assists) in 620 NHL games. He has three goals and three assists this year.

BELLEMARE LEAVES CONTEST

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare left the game with 3:50 remaining in the first period after a collision with a Sharks player in the neutral zone and did not return. Head coach Jared Bednar did not have an update on the forward postgame.
Bellemare has skated in all eight of Colorado's games this season and has been a staple on the Avs' penalty kill since he signed with the team in the summer of 2019. In 462 career NHL contests, the forward has 87 points (38 goals, 49 assists), including five short-handed tallies.

SHOTS ON SHOTS ON SHOTS

With the Avs' first shot on goal in the first period, Nathan MacKinnon set a new franchise record for consecutive regular-season games with a shot, surpassing Joe Sakic's stretch of 227 straight contests.
MacKinnon's 228-game streak began on Oct. 14, 2017 at Dallas and is the longest current run in the NHL. He has led the league in shots for each of the past two seasons and has 36 shots so far this campaign, the most among all skaters.
MacKinnon finished the contest with six shots on net and an assist. He has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in eight outings so far this year.

GAME NOTES

It was the 100th regular-season meeting between the Avalanche and the Sharks. Colorado is 50-38-12 all-time against San Jose and 2-0-0 so far this season. The clubs will meet six more times in 2020-21.
Colorado went 1-for-4 on the power play and has scored a league-leading 12 goals with the man advantage this season.
Brandon Saad finished with two points (two assists), his second straight multi-point game. It's the first time Saad has recorded multiple points in consecutive contests since Dec. 12-14, 2018.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar picked up his 150th NHL coaching victory. He is the fourth bench boss in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to reach the 150 mark, joining Michael Bergeron (265), Bob Hartley (193) and Marc Crawford (165).