Game Recap: Sharks at Avalanche 12/17

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists to extend his point streak to 15 games, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the San Jose Sharks 6-2 at Ball Arena on Sunday.

“I feel very clear,” MacKinnon said. “I'd say the game feels like it's slow, which is always a good, good feeling. Obviously, doing a lot of work away from the rink that no one sees, and it's paying off right now.”

MacKinnon has 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) during his point streak, which is the longest active in the NHL and matches the longest in his career (2020-21). He also extended his season-opening home point streak to 16 games (11 goals, 21 assists).

“He's always been an exceptional worker off the ice,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “He sets himself up for success on game day by the way he prepares, whether that's the gym, diet, practice. You watch him in practice, and he doesn't want to do a lot of reps of one thing, but when he does his reps, he does them full speed, gets what he needs out of it, and then he's ready to move on to something else.

“That's the example that he sets for us. So, everything that he does, even before and after practice work, it's something that he's identified that he wants to improve on or stay sharp on. And he drags other guys into that. His preparation and his competitiveness is why he's as good as he is.”

Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Johansen scored for the Avalanche (19-10-2), who were coming off a 6-2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Jonathan Drouin had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves.

“I thought we accomplished everything we wanted to in the first period,” Bednar said. “Got back for pucks in a hurry, tried to simplify our game on our exits, and then we wanted to have a linear, fast attack.”

Tomas Hertl scored twice, and Mikael Granlund had two assists for the Sharks (9-19-3), who had earned at least one point in four of their past five games (3-1-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves.

“It's just a hard team to play when you give them three goals and you take that many minutes, nine minutes, in penalties in the first period,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “No one's getting into a rhythm and there's no tempo. It was a really strange game the way it started, and you spot them three, it's tough to come back to beat that team.”

Nichushkin gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 7:18 of the first period on the power play, scoring on a tap-in at the back side of the net off a feed from Drouin.

“It's not a set play, but we knew if that seam was open, we had something back door right away,” Drouin said. “Val is very good around the net, so I tried to get it put on his stick and he finished it.”

The goal came after Jacob MacDonald was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for hitting Sam Malinski in the corner at 2:47.

Rantanen made it 2-0 with a power-play-goal at 12:15, redirecting MacKinnon’s centering pass short side.

“Tonight, I think our team came out with the right intent, and those guys led the way,” Bednar said. “I thought they were dominant the whole night. So, I think when our team plays like that, and when those guys play like that, it gives our team a lot of confidence.”

Miles Wood extended it to 3-0 at 18:20 when he took a backhand pass from Ross Colton, skated into the left dot, and sent in a wrist shot off the near shoulder of Blackwood.

MacKinnon pushed it to 4-0 at 3:44 of the second period after his initial shot ricocheted off the right post, hit Blackwood in the back, and rolled back into the net.

“Nate's been playing great for a while now,” Drouin said. “I think he's taken his game to the next level the past couple weeks, and you could see it tonight. Especially that line, for me. They're so big and strong. They're fast and they make plays.”

Hertl cut it to 4-1 at 9:01 on the power play when he deflected Granlund’s shot from the blue line down at the hash marks.

“There's areas that we could have done better throughout the whole game, I think,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “It wasn't our best performance, but I liked our compete and our hard work. It’s unfortunate the way it went, the way it started, but it is what it is and we've got to move on and try to improve.”

Johansen extended it to 5-1 at 9:01 of the third period after locating the loose rebound from Caleb Jones’ point shot and scoring into an open net.

“The second line mix, [the] Johansen line, just has not been where I want it to be,” Bednar said. “I just felt like putting a couple workers with him, like [Andrew] Cogliano, [Logan] O’Connor, that maybe we could get more than that. I thought 'Jo’ played his best game in a while.”

Hertl made it 5-2 at 10:45 with his second power-play goal, backhanding his own rebound over the leg of Georgiev.

MacKinnon stole the puck at his own blue line and shot from center ice into an empty net at 15:11 for the 6-2 final.

NOTES: With four points, MacKinnon (806) passed Milan Hejduk (805) for the fourth-most points in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. … MacKinnon played in his 740th NHL game, passing Gabriel Landeskog for fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list. … Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews had an assist for his 200th NHL point (44 goals, 156 assists). … Georgiev (40-15-4) got his 40th win of 2023, which is the most among all goaltenders; he also surpassed Patrick Roy (39 in 2000) for the most in a calendar year by an Avalanche/Nordiques goaltender.