Girard scores four points, Avalanche defeat Sharks

DENVER -- Samuel Girard had a goal and three assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Girard has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a three-game point streak.
"The last couple games I'm moving my feet, that's what I have to do, that's one of my qualities," Girard said. "I have to use my feet on the ice and I have to keep doing that for the rest of the season."
Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, Alex Newhook scored his first regular-season NHL goal, and Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves for Colorado (6-5-1), which has outscored opponents 13-3 in winning its past two games.
Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture scored, and Adin Hill made 24 saves for San Jose (7-6-1), which is 1-3-1 in its past five games.
"There were some guys that looked like they hadn't played in a long time," said Sharks coach Bob Boughner, who along with seven players came out of NHL COVID-19 protocol Friday. "You would like to have a little spike when you get some veterans back in the lineup. Those guys all played OK for the first few shifts, but as the game went on you could tell fatigue set in. There were things that were just uncharacteristic."

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the first period on Couture's short side one-timer from the hash marks along the right boards off a pass from Mario Ferraro.
The Avalanche tied 1-1 at 10:10 on Devon Toews' point shot on a power play. The Sharks had killed 17 straight penalties covering six games.
Kadri made it 2-1 at 13:55 on a backhand after skating in alone on Hill and drawing him out following a pass from Valeri Nichushkin.
Kadri has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a six-game streak.
"Luckily, I've been getting some fortunate bounces and I've been able to find the back of the net," Kadri said. "As a skilled offensive player, when you see a few [goals] drop early, it gets the momentum going in the right direction. It's been great, great players I'm playing with and it's helped me a lot."
Newhook increased the lead to 3-1 at 12:38 of the second period, shooting short side from low in the right circle after a Girard centering pass. Newhook had one goal in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games last season.
"[Girard] made a great play coming down the wall," said Newhook. "As soon as I saw him coming down, I just tried to get over and he saw me and it was just a matter of time before he slid it over.
"I was excited. It was 2-1 at the time, so that goal was big for our team and kind of gave us some good energy and we were able to build off it and keep going."

O'Connor made it 4-1 at 15:37 with a shorthanded breakaway off a Darren Helm pass.
Barabanov cut it to 4-2 at 9:02 of the third period with a shot from the left circle on a power play.
Andre Burakovsky put in a deflected shot from the right circle at 10:13 to make it 5-2.
Girard scored into an empty net at 16:37 for the 6-2 final.
"I thought he was great," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of Girard. "He was moving, jumping into the play. One of the best parts of his game, when the puck was moved up the ice to our forwards he was always getting into the right spot. He was a dangerous option off the rush and moving into the offensive zone. His best game that we've seen him play in a while."
Forward Timo Meier was among the Sharks players returning from COVID-19 protocol.
"It's nice to back, especially after that tough time," he said. "I think we started off well, we took a lot of penalties and it kind of takes away the momentum. I think overall we didn't work enough and we played sloppy. That's what cost us this game and made it an easy night for them."
NOTES:Avalanche forward J.T. Compher left the game after he sustained an upper-body injury in the first period. He was the center on the top line in injured Nathan MacKinnon's absence. "Upper body, pulled something, not doing great right now," Bednar said. "He'll get reevaluated tomorrow." … San Jose went 3-2-1 in six games without Boughner, with assistant John MacLean filling in as coach.
Sharks forwards Kevin Labanc and Matt Nieto, and defensemen Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Radim Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also played after being removed from NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past five games. … Burakovsky has four points (three goals, one assist) during a three-game streak.