Celebrate San Jose Sharks 2020 March 8

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each scored and added two assists in the Colorado Avalanche's 4-3 win at SAP Center against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
Vladislav Namestnikov also had a multi-point outing with a goal and an assist, and J.T. Compher had two helpers. Erik Johnson recorded an assist as well.
Joonas Donskoi scored the eventual game-winner for Colorado, as he was playing his first game against the Sharks after spending the previous four seasons with the organization.

Joe Thornton, Melker Karlsson and Noah Gregor tallied for San Jose.
Pavel Francouz made his 10th start in the past 11 games and stopped 22 shots to earn his 20th win of the season.
Colorado is now 2-0-0 against San Jose this year. The teams will conclude the season series at Pepsi Center in Denver on St. Patrick's Day.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
11:16 SJS (0-1) - PPG, Joe Thornton scored on the power play after collecting a rebound.
16:17 COL (1-1) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon scored his 35th tally of the season after Gabriel Landeskog fed him the puck.
2nd Period
1:59 COL (2-1) - Gabriel Landeskog picked up a rebound from a Nathan MacKinnon shot and scored into an open net.
3:41 SJS (2-2) - Marcus Sorensen intercepted an Avalanche pass and sprung Melker Karlsson ahead for a breakaway goal.
8:41 COL (3-2) - Vladislav Namestnikov regained the lead for Colorado after tallying off a pass from Gabriel Landeskog.
3rd Period
15:27 COL (4-2) - In his return to San Jose, Joonas Donskoi redirected J.T. Compher's shot into the net.
19:46 SJS (4-3) - PPG, Noah Gregor scored after receiving a drop pass from Timo Meier.
Final: Avalanche - 4 | Sharks - 3

3 STARS

Selected by Sharks radio's Dan Rusanowsky

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 4
San Jose: 2 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz stopped 22 shots to earn his 20th win of the season
San Jose: Martin Jones made 20-of-24 saves

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon registered his 29th multi-point game of the season, setting a new career high (28 in 2018-19). MacKinnon ranks tied for second with Boston's David Pastrnak for the most multi-point outings in the NHL (Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl leads with 33), and it is the most by an Avalanche player since Peter Forsberg had 29 in 2002-03.

NOTEBOOK

Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon each scored and added two assists in the contest, and both skaters have collected more than one point in each of the last three outings… Landeskog is on an eight-game point streak, one short of his career long. He has also scored in three consecutive outings (three goals) and registered an assist in four straight (six assists), one game short of his high mark of five straight contests with an assist… MacKinnon now has 58 assists on the year, tying his career high that he set in each of the past two campaigns… Vladislav Namestnikov scored and added an assist for his first multi-point game in Colorado, and he now has five points (three goals, two assists) in seven games since he was acquired by Colorado on Feb. 24… Erik Johnson had an assist and now has six points (two goals, four assists) in his last six outings... Joe Thornton's power-play goal in the first period ended Colorado's penalty kill streak. The penalty-kill unit had gone 11 straight games without allowing a power-play goal, tied for the longest such streak in franchise history. The Avs had also killed a season-high 27 straight short-handed situations before that... The Avs improve to 8-1-1 in their last 10 contests and 16-4-2 in their last 22 games... The Avalanche also plays at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday to wrap up its final back-to-back set of the year and finished the season with a 9-3-0 mark in the first contest when playing on consecutive days... Colorado earned is 24th road win of the season, tied for the second-most in franchise history (26, 2013-14).

QUOTABLE

Gabriel Landeskog on the playoff race: "It is going to be fun down the stretch. That is our goal, keep chasing [the St. Louis Blues] down and we know we got them in Game 82. Trying to focus on game by game obviously, but I am sure they are doing the same thing. We would have liked to obviously won the one we had in Vancouver and the one we had at home where we felt like it slipped away in overtime from us but we got to look forward and we are excited for it."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

Welcome Back, Donny!

COL@SJS: Donskoi scores in return to San Jose

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Gabriel Landeskog Nathan MacKinnon celebrate San Jose Sharks 2020 March 8

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Pavel Francouz started in net for the 10th time in the past 11 games… Nikita Zadorov was the Avalanche's healthy scratch.

INJURY UPDATE

Andre Burakovsky (upper body/lower body), Matt Calvert (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Cale Makar (upper body) and Mikko Rantanen (upper body) continue to recover in Denver from their respective injuries and most have resumed skating… Colin Wilson (lower body) continues to rehab and do off-ice training following two surgeries earlier this season.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche wraps up its 12th and final back-to-back set of the season at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. It also concludes a three-game trip for Colorado and a stretch that had the team playing eight-of-10 away from Pepsi Center. The Avs open a four-game homestand on Wednesday against the New York Rangers.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
15 Sheldon Dries - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
28 Ian Cole - 6 Erik Johnson
7 Kevin Connauton - 44 Mark Barberio
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
35 Michael Hutchinson