Rapid Recap: Avalanche 5, Sharks 4 (OT)

Andre Burakovsky scored early in overtime to complete the Colorado Avalanche's 5-4 comeback win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Monday. The Avs overcame a two-goal deficit in the outing.
Colorado scored three times in the third period with markers from Valeri Nichushkin, Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri to knot the contest at 4-4 and force the extra frame.
Burakovsky and Landeskog also added helpers while Nathan MacKinnon had a multi-point effort with two assists. Mikko Rantanen recorded the Avalanche's first marker in the first period to tie the game at 1-1 after San Jose's Evander Kane scored the game's opening goal early in the stanza.

Kane finished the contest with two tallies while Tomas Hertl added a goal and an assist. Timo Meier also scored for San Jose, and goaltender Martin Jones made 26 saves.
The Avalanche and Sharks conclude their eight-game season series on Wednesday.

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:20 SJS (0-1) - Evander Kane scored from the slot after a turnover in the Avs' defensive zone.
5:38 COL (1-1) - Mikko Rantanen tied the game when he poked the rebound from Nathan MacKinnon's shot into the net after a faceoff.
2nd Period
1:57 SJS (1-2) - Tomas Hertl tallied with a backhand shot after a turnover.
7:47 SJS (1-3) - Evander Kane scored his second of the game on a breakaway.
3rd Period
1:18 COL (2-3) - Valeri Nichushkin cut Colorado's deficit in half when he sent the loose puck into the cage after Andre Burakovsky's initial shot bounced off the crossbar.
3:32 SJS (2-4) - Timo Meier scored from the right circle with traffic in front of the net.
8:59 COL (3-4) - Gabriel Landkesog shot the puck from the slot and scored top shelf.
16:21 COL (4-4) - Nazem Kadri tied the game with a shot from the goal line that bounced off the San Jose goaltender and in.
Overtime
0:41 COL (5-4) - Andre Burakovsky's shot from the slot trickled past Martin Jones and into the cage.
Final: Avalanche - 5 | Sharks - 4 (OT)

3 STARS

Selected by: Dan Rusanowksy (Sharks Radio)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 3
San Jose: 0 for 1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots.
San Jose:Martin Jones allowed five goals on 31 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Mikko Rantanen scored his 29th goal of the year, the third-most in the league. He now has 29 tallies and 30 assists for 59 points in 46 contests this season.
The Nousiainen, Finland, native has seven points (three goals, four assists) in three games since returning from the COVID protocol list on Friday. Rantanen has also found the scoresheet in each of his last nine appearances (eight goals, eight assists), including markers in his past five outings (six goals).

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky scored in overtime for the first time this year and third time in his career... Gabriel Landeskog found the back of the net for the 19th time this season, one shy of his eighth career 20-goal campaign. Only Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk (both 11) have more 20-goal seasons since the franchise moved to Denver… Landeskog also had an assist to record his 13th multi-point game of 2020-21... Valeri Nichushkin scored his 10th goal of the year, the eighth Colorado player to hit the double-digit goal mark… Nathan MacKinnon had two assists in the outing, his 20th multi-point performance this year… The Avalanche began its final road trip of the regular season. The five-game journey is the club's longest continuous trek of 2020-21… Colorado is now 6-1-0 against San Jose this year. The squads will wrap up their season series on Wednesday.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Goal Scorer Mikko

ROSTER REPORT

Ryan Graves was back in the lineup after missing Saturday's outing with an upper-body injury. He began the game on a pairing with Conor Timmins. Dan Renouf and Patrik Nemeth formed a defensive duo, while the Devon Toews and Cale Makar pair remained the same. Kyle Burroughs was the defensive scratch. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer started his 35th game of the year and was backed up by Jonas Johansson. The forward combinations stayed the same.

INJURY UPDATE

Devan Dubnyk was added to the NHL's COVID-protocol list prior to the start of the game. Jacob MacDonald is on the trip and is getting closer to a return but missed his seventh game of the year with a lower-body injury. Samuel Girard missed his second outing with a lower-body injury and is expected to be out for two weeks. Rookie D-man Bowen Byram skated in a small group last week and hasn't played since March 25 when he suffered an upper-body injury. Brandon Saad suffered a lower-body injury in his last contest on April 24 and is expected to miss two-to-four weeks. Matt Calvert (upper body) and Logan O'Connor (lower body) are both out long term with no timeline on a return. O'Connor had surgery last week to help correct his ailment. Pavel Francouz (lower body) is out for the rest of the season and defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) could return late in the playoffs.

UP NEXT

Colorado and San Jose wrap up their season series at SAP Center on Wednesday. The Avs will then have a back-to-back set at the Los Angeles Kings on Friday and Saturday before concluding its five-game trip at the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.

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
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 22 Conor Timmins
2 Dan Renouf - 24 Patrik Nemeth
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson