Rapid Recap: Sharks 3, Avalanche 2

The Colorado Avalanche fell 3-2 at the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night at SAP Center as the teams concluded their eight-game season series.
The Sharks scored three unanswered goals in the final 20:13 to rally from a two-goal deficit in the second period. Tomas Hertl buried two shots, while Erik Karlsson recorded the game-winner on a power play midway through the third frame.
Tyson Jost and Andre Burakovsky tallied for Colorado in the second period, with Patrik Nemeth, Jacob MacDonald, Nazem Kadri and Conor Timmins recording assists. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves.

San Jose outshot Colorado 12-6 in the third period.
The Avs finished the season series versus the Sharks with a 6-2-0 record, having won each of the previous four matchups prior to Wednesday.

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
15:39 COL (1-0) - Tyson Jost found the back of the net with a backhand shot after the puck rebounded out to him in the slot.
18:18 COL (2-0) - Andre Burakovsky scored short-side from the right circle.
19:47 SJS (2-1) - Tomas Hertl tallied on a rush up the ice after taking a pass from Evander Kane.
3rd Period
2:50 SJS (2-2) - Tomas Hertl recorded his second goal of the game by burying a rebound following a faceoff.
9:18 SJS (2-3) - PPG, Erik Karlsson took a cross-ice pass from Evander Kane and scored from the left circle.
Final: Sharks - 3 | Avalanche - 2

3 STARS

Selected by Dan Rusanowsky (Sharks Radio)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 2
San Jose: 1 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 30-of-33 shots.
San Jose: Josef Korenar made 30 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

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The Avs finished the season series against the Sharks with a 6-2-0 record, the third opponent this year that Colorado has six victories against (went 6-1-1 versus both Anaheim and Arizona).
The six wins are tied for the most against a single opponent in a campaign in franchise history, the 11th time Colorado/Quebec has accomplished the feat and the sixth since moving to Denver in 1995.

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky is on a three-game goal streak (three goals, one assist)… Conor Timmins had an assist and now has three helpers in the past three games… The contest on May 5 represented the "latest" regular-season game in franchise history, a mark that will be broken with the club having five more games remaining this year… It was just the third game that the club had played on Cinco de Mayo, with the previous two coming in the playoffs… Colorado went 2-2-0 in San Jose in 2020-21... Nathan MacKinnon had his 17-game road point streak come to an end. It was the second-longest stretch in franchise history behind Peter Stastny's 23-game run with Quebec in 1983-84… Mikko Rantanen had his stretch of nine consecutive games played with a point come to an end, a run that also featured multi-point outings in each of his previous five contests he had appeared in.

QUOTABLE

Alex Newhook on making his NHL debut: "I had a good idea yesterday, but I officially found out this morning. It was a pretty cool thing to hear. You kind of dream of this day, I've been dreaming of it my whole life. It was exciting. I called my parents right away; they were the first people to know. It's been great so far, trying to take it all in."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Eye on the puck.

ROSTER REPORT

Alex Newhook made his NHL debut and centered a line with Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri. Defenseman Jacob MacDonald returned to game action after missing seven contests with a lower-body injury, skating on a pairing with Patrik Nemeth. Carl Soderberg started on a line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and J.T. Compher, while the Valeri Nichushkin-Tyson Jost-Joonas Donskoi trio was reunited. Liam O'Brien, Dan Renouf and Kiefer Sherwood were scratched. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer started for the second-straight game and appeared in his 37th of the season, tying his career high he set in 2018-19.

INJURY UPDATE

Goaltender Devan Dubnyk missed his second game while in the league's COVID-19 protocol, while Samuel Girard (lower body) was out for his third-straight outing and is expected to miss around two weeks. Bowen Byram (upper body) and Brandon Saad (lower body) are out week-to-week. Both Matt Calvert (upper body) and Logan O'Connor (lower body) are out long term, with O'Connor recently having surgery. Erik Johnson (upper body) could possibly return later in the playoffs, while goaltender Pavel Francouz is out for the remainder of the campaign.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche continues its road trip in Southern California with a back-to-back at the Los Angeles Kings on Friday and Sunday. The club concludes the trip on Monday at the Vegas Golden Knights.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
91 Nazem Kadri - 18 Alex Newhook - 95 Andre Burakovsky
34 Carl Soderberg - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 22 Conor Timmins
26 Jacob MacDonald - 24 Patrik Nemeth
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson