Grubauer makes 21 saves in return, Avalanche shut out Sharks

DENVER -- Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves, and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena on Friday.

It was the first game out of NHL COVID-19 protocol for Grubauer, Rantanen and Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi, who had an assist. Grubauer and Donskoi each missed five games after testing positive. Rantanen, a forward, missed four games because of contact tracing.
It was Grubauer's sixth shutout of the season and 17th in the NHL.
"Obviously, the first period I was a little rusty," said Grubauer, who had not played since April 12, when he made 35 saves in a 4-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes. "Practices are limited too, so it was tough for me in the first, it got better in the second, and the third I felt back to 100 percent normal."

Cale Makar had a goal and an assist for Colorado (32-12-4), which ended a three-game losing streak and is 13-0-1 in its past 14 at home.
The Avalanche moved two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for second place in the eight-team Honda West Division. They are four points behind the first-place Vegas Golden Knights with one game in hand.
Martin Jones made 33 saves for San Jose (20-25-5), which lost for the first time in three games but is 2-8-1 in its past 11.
"They're a good hockey team," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "Grubauer made some big saves at the right time. We can probably generate more offense. We have a lot of young guys playing in the lineup that haven't played together. We battled hard tonight. We're playing one of the best teams in the League. I don't think we got outplayed badly or anything like that, we just couldn't find the goal we needed."
The Sharks are sixth in the West, seven points behind the fourth-place St. Louis Blues for the final Stanley Cup Playoff berth. The Golden Knights, Avalanche and Wild have qualified for the playoffs.
It was the first of a four-game series; the teams are scheduled to play again here Saturday and at San Jose on Monday and Wednesday.
Gabriel Landeskog gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 11:13 of the first period when he tipped a shot by Makar from the point on a power play.
Makar made it 2-0 at 13:13 with a shot from the right point on a power play.
"We were able to get some pucks to the net, and I thought we were getting good chances even on the other power plays," Makar said. "I think we're just going to have to keep playing to our strengths, especially on the power play against these guys and try to expose them in areas they're not ready for."

Colorado went 2-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
"Special teams were outstanding," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I would say 5-on-5 I liked our checking. We were skating, we were getting back in the zone, our breakouts were really good, and we didn't spend a lot of time (in the defensive zone)."
San Jose's Tomas Hertl scored on a power play at 10:09 of the third period, but Bednar challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review showed Alexander Barabanov batted the puck into the Colorado zone at 10:03 with Evander Kane in an offside position.
Rantanen scored an empty-net goal with 1:39 left for the 3-0 final.
Bednar didn't have an update on defensemen Ryan Graves and Samuel Girard, who each left the game with an injury. Graves exited in the first period with an upper-body injury, and Girard left in the third with an undisclosed injury after he went awkwardly into the end boards on a hit by Sharks forward Kevin Labanc.
"Obviously, you don't want to see those guys go down," Makar said. "We need them, they're very key players for us. [Girard] plays an incredible amount of minutes, and Graves is a super steady guy."
NOTES: Nathan MacKinnon had his point streak end at 15 games (nine goals, 17 assists), the longest in the NHL this season and the longest by an Avalanche player since Paul Statsny's 20-game streak from Feb. 3-March 17, 2007. … MacKinnon had his streak of having at least one shot on goal end at 263 games. The center had not failed to get a shot since Oct. 13, 2017, against the Anaheim Ducks, when he played 4:29. He played 15:23 on Friday but did not take a shift after fighting Labanc at 9:38 of the third period, serving a fighting major and a roughing minor. … It was the 1,000th win for the Avalanche since relocating from Quebec for the 1995-96 season (1,000-726-101 with 142 ties). … Sharks forward Ivan Chekhovich had one blocked shot in 10:18 in his NHL debut. … San Jose is 0-for-28 on the power play in the past 10 games.