Stellar Sharks Debut for Blackwood but Sharks Fall Short in Shootout

SAN JOSE -- Cale Makar scored the game-tying goal with 1:26 left in the third period for the Colorado Avalanche, who overcame Mackenzie Blackwood's 51 saves in a 2-1 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves for the Avalanche (2-0-0), who outshot the Sharks 19-4 in the third period and tied it 1-1 when Makar scored on a shot through traffic.

"I think we played hard, we were competitive, we did a lot of good things," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "But when it came to creating scoring chances or capitalizing on the scoring chance, we just missed the last part of the execution. So, it probably forced some plays for a while but got better as the game went on. Third period was definitely our best."

Thomas Bordeleau scored his first NHL goal for the Sharks (0-1-1).

It was Blackwood's debut with San Jose after he was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on June 27.

"Sometimes pucks just go your way," Blackwood said. "I've been working hard with the goalie coach here and getting a lot of good work in, and I feel good about where my game is at."

Bordeleau put San Jose ahead 1-0 at 8:42 of the first period when he tipped in a slap shot by Matt Benning. Bordeleau, a second-round pick (No. 38) in the 2020 NHL Draft, has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 18 games.

"I never really felt the pressure to score," Bordeleau said. "I was just kind of concentrating on other stuff. Obviously, getting some goals here and there is fun, but I need to grow my game beyond that a little bit. So yeah, I was happy, but I wish we could've had the win. It would've felt better."

Mikko Rantanen scored the lone goal in the shootout.

"It felt awesome to win," Georgiev said. "It had been a pretty frustrating game for the guys, but we made it happen and got the two points. That’s the most important."

Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic exited the game with an apparent lower-body injury after the first period. There was no update after the game.

"Going down to five defenseman against that team, that's a lot of minutes for your [defense] corps," Quinn said. "That's probably one of the reasons they were so dominant in the third period. Our defenseman looked tired."

NOTES: Blackwood’s 51 saves were the most in a debut with a team since 1955-56. … Bordeleau became the 10th player born in Texas to score an NHL goal.