Sharks rally with six straight goals in win against Avalanche

The San Jose Sharks scored six straight goals to rally for a 6-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center in San Jose, California on Monday.

Rudolfs Balcers broke a tie in the third period and had an assist, Evander Kane had a goal and two assists, and Timo Meier had three assists for the Sharks (8-9-2) in the opener of a two-game set. Erik Karlsson and Radim Simek each scored his first goal of the season, and Martin Jones made 33 saves.
"I felt like we didn't hesitate," Karlsson said. "We didn't play not to lose tonight. I thought that we played to win the game. That doesn't mean that that's always going to happen, but it felt like that was our mentality going into the third."

The Sharks allowed 13 goals in their previous two games, a 7-6 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday and a 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 22.
"I think we played with a little bit of [an angry] attitude after the last couple games," San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. "We're a different team than when we went into Colorado at the start of the season (7-3 and 3-0 losses on Jan. 26 and 28). We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I like the chemistry I'm seeing."
Gabriel Landeskog and Samuel Girard scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the Avalanche (11-7-1), who won their previous two games.
The teams will play in San Jose again Wednesday.
"We kind of gave this one away," Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen said. "We gave up too many chances. We started the third period, it's a 2-2 hockey game on the road and we started the first five minutes in the [defensive zone]. I don't think that's the start you're looking for. It was very frustrating."
The Sharks took the lead in the third period with three goals in 5:53.
Balcers made it 3-2 at 4:18 when the rebound of his shot went in off the stick of Avalanche center Nazem Kadri.
The Sharks took a 4-2 lead when Karlsson scored from the top of the circles for a power-play goal at 7:53.
Karlsson played his second game after missing the previous four due to a lower-body injury sustained against the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 13.
''It seems like he's got a good reset," Boughner said. "He's doing those things with the puck we're used to seeing him doing. 'That's the Erik we're used to seeing.''

John Leonard made it 5-2 on a breakaway at 10:11, and Kane scored into an empty net at 18:53 for the 6-2 final.
Girard gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 18:32 of the first period. He shot short side from the right face-off circle after moving past Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Landeskog made it 2-0 at 4:21 of the second period, converting the rebound of Kadri's shot.
"When we built the 2-0 lead, we got stubborn," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We turned the puck over, got fancy and kind of got away from our game. We had way too many turnovers. We were bringing it on ourselves. The scoring chances they had were coming off our mismanagement of the puck. We're sleeping and getting outworked coming to our net on a few of these. We just turned it into a track meet with a highly skilled team that plays with pace."
The Sharks started their rally at 6:13 when Simek shot five-hole from between the circles to make it 2-1.
Labanc tied it 2-2 at 16:48 when Kane passed by Girard to Labanc in front for a redirection under Grubauer's left pad.
NOTES: Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. He was replaced by defenseman Conor Timmins. … Colorado defenseman Cale Makar, who missed his second game with an upper-body injury, returned to Denver for treatment. … Rantanen played his 300th NHL game. … Landeskog scored his 203rd goal with the Avalanche and moved past
Peter Forsberg
into third place on their all-time list (since 1995-96). He trails
Joe Sakic
(391) and
Milan Hejduk
(375). … Kane has scored eight points (four goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. … Sharks forward Logan Couture also extended his point streak to four games (four goals, two assists).