Rapid Recap: Sharks 6, Avalanche 2

The San Jose Sharks scored six unanswered goals to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Monday night at SAP Center.
Colorado's Samuel Girard began the game's scoring in the first period and Gabriel Landeskog tallied on the power play in the second frame, but the Sharks found the back of the net twice before the intermission to knot the score at 2-2. San Jose continued its run in the third period by scoring three times in the first 10:11 of the stanza before adding an empty-netter at the end.

Evander Kane (one goal, two assists) and Timo Meier (three assists) led the Sharks offensively with three-point nights, while Rudolfs Balcers added a goal and an assist for a multi-point outing as well.
Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews had assists in the contest for Colorado.
The loss ended the Avalanche's three-game winning streak on the road.
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Highlights

THE GOALS

1st Period
18:32 COL (1-0) - Samuel Girard took a pass from Andre Burakovsky, cut into the slot and scored short-side.
2nd Period
4:21 COL (2-0) - PPG, Gabriel Landeskog backhanded a rebound into the back of the net after some quick passes during the man advantage.
6:13 SJS (2-1) - Radim Simek tallied on a shot from the mid-slot that went five-hole.
16:48 SJS (2-2) - Kevin Lebanc tapped in a centering pass at the top of the crease to tie the contest.
3rd Period
4:08 SJS (2-3) - Rudolfs Balcers gave the Sharks the lead on a centering pass that took a fortunate redirection.
7:53 SJS (2-4) - PPG, Erik Karlsson fired a one-timer from the blue line that made its way through with traffic.
10:11 SJS (2-5) - John Leonard tallied on a breakaway.
18:53 SJS (2-6) - ENG, Evander Kane scored into the gaping net.
Final: Sharks - 6 | Avalanche - 2

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 4
San Jose: 1 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.
San Jose: Martin Jones denied 33-of-35 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Gabriel Landeskog scored to pass Peter Forsberg (202) for sole possession of third place for all-time goals in an Avalanche sweater (since 1995-96), and his 203rd career marker came on the power play to tie Forsberg (54) for fourth-most in a Colorado uniform during the man advantage.
Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Landeskog's goal for his 321st helper of his career, tying Alex Tanguay for eighth place in franchise history and fourth in Avs history.

NOTEBOOK

The Avs were playing the third of eight meetings this season vs. San Jose and is 2-1-0 in the 2020-21 series… Colorado is now 2-1-0 on its four-game road trip…The Avalanche began its busiest month ever as it will play 17 games in 31 days in March. The franchise had played 16 games in a month five times previously, including three times in March (2004, 2012, 2017)… Mikko Rantanen appeared in his 300th NHL game, while Gabriel Landeskog played in his 650th career contest to tie Anton Stastny for ninth place in Colorado/Quebec franchise history... Andre Burakovsky (one goal, three assists) and Nathan MacKinnon (one goal, two assists) extended their respective point streaks to three games… Colorado had its season-long, three-game winning streak on the road snapped... The Avs are three games into a stretch that has them playing six games in nine days.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Where's the puck?

ROSTER REPORT

Goalie Philipp Grubauer started for the second-straight contest, and defenseman Conor Timmins returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the past two contests. The Avs began the game with Nathan MacKinnon centering wingers Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, while Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri and Brandon Saad made up another trio.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram missed his first game of the season since making his NHL debut with an upper-body injury. Cale Makar returned to Denver to receive treatment for his upper-body ailment, missing his second game in a row. Matt Calvert (upper body) also missed his second consecutive contest. Dennis Gilbert (upper body) will be out four-to-six weeks after having surgery recently. Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) and defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) are both out long term.

UP NEXT

Colorado finishes its four-game road trip and wraps up the set at the Sharks on Wednesday at SAP Center. The Avs begin a nine-game homestand on Friday versus the Anaheim Ducks, which starts a stretch of 15-of-17 contests at Ball Arena.

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 - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
34 Jacob MacDonald - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
2 Dan Renouf - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska