Avalanche hold off Sharks, keep pace in West Division race

DENVER -- Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and an assist for the Colorado Avalanche, who held off the San Jose Sharks for a 4-3 win at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Patrik Nemeth and Andre Burakovsky scored for Colorado (33-12-4), which defeated San Jose 3-0 here Friday and is 14-0-1 in its past 15 home games. Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in his first game against the Sharks since being traded to the Avalanche on April 10.
Colorado remained four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Honda West Division and two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild.
"I thought we were more dangerous on the offensive side of it tonight than last game," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "More jump, better shot mentality, a little bit better net presence. Last game we relied on our special teams, and tonight I thought we were pretty good 5-on-5. We continued with having success on our breakouts to get us out and moving. I thought we moved through the neutral zone a little bit better and created some rush opportunities, and in (offensive) zone play we started to get some good motion."
Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov each had a goal and an assist, and Josef Korenar made 40 saves for San Jose (20-26-5), which is 2-9-1 in its past 12 games.
The Sharks are sixth in the division, eight points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final Stanley Cup Playoff berth with five games remaining. The Golden Knights, Avalanche and Wild have qualified for the postseason.
"It was unfortunate we couldn't get at least a point," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "I thought [Korenar] made some big saves, especially the last 10 minutes of the second period. He was fighting to get through on some traffic on those two point shot goals in the third period. He's battling hard and fighting hard."

Barabanov gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the second period, scoring from the left circle after Hertl lost control of the puck at the top of the crease. The goal was San Jose's first in 29 power plays dating to April 12.
MacKinnon scored his 20th of the season to tie it 1-1 at 13:08, skating to the right post and redirecting a pass from Conor Timmins during a 4-on-4.
"I just saw him creeping back door, so I just tried to get it to him as quick as possible," Timmins said. "Luckily we connected. Obviously, whenever we can get a big goal like that for our team it's a great feeling. It was pretty exciting."
The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead at 16:06 when J.T. Compher won a face-off in the right circle to Burakovsky, who beat Korenar glove side.
Colorado outshot San Jose 21-4 in the second period.
"[Korenar] kept us in the game," Sharks captain Logan Couture said. "He was probably our best player for a majority of the night. It could have been a lot more than the four that they got. We made it a game at the end, but I wish we would have helped him out a little more."
Nemeth increased the lead to 3-1 at 9:05 of the third period with a shot through a screen from just inside the blue line.
"Cale [Makar] made a great play, drew a guy to him, and I had an open lane and just took a shot," Nemeth said. "It was a good play by him to create some movement there."
Nemeth had a bigger role Saturday in the absence of defensemen Ryan Graves (upper body) and Samuel Girard (lower body), who were injured Friday. Nemeth had four shots and three blocks in a season-high 23:34 of ice time; he.was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on April 9.
"Just trying to be a solid defender and a good [penalty kill] guy, making the opposition work hard," Nemeth said. "That's who I am and that's what I want to bring to this team down the stretch."
Couture cut it to 3-2 at 9:55 with a shorthanded goal, putting in the rebound after Evander Kane was stopped on a breakaway.
Rantanen made it 4-2 at 15:34 when he redirected Devon Toews' point shot. He has scored five points (two goals, three assists) in two games since returning from NHL COVID-19 protocol that caused him to miss four games.
Hertl got the Sharks to within 4-3 at 17:47 with Korenar off for an extra skater.

NOTES: Bednar said Girard will be out about two weeks. Graves is day to day, but his status could change depending on further tests. … Rantanen has scored 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past eight games. … MacKinnon had nine shots on goal after having his streak of 263 consecutive games with a shot end Friday. … Kane's assist was his 500th NHL point in his 764th game. He has scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games.