SAN JOSE–San Jose celebrated a return from a 3-3-1 roadtrip by turning back the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 at a sold-out SAP Center Wednesday night.
The Sharks improved to 85 points and slipped by Dallas for 10th in the Western Conference. San Jose has five games left on the schedule, starting Friday at home against Arizona. Needing to reach the eighth spot to make the Stanley Cup postseason, San Jose must surpass both Los Angeles (88 points with six games left) and Winnipeg (90 with five left). Calgary (91 with five left) is also within reach.
San Jose brought a 1-0 lead into the third period, then made it 2-0 before the Avalanche responded with its only goal of the night. The Sharks regained the two-goal lead before adding a pair of empty-net goals in the final 4:05.
Alex Stalock, making his third consecutive start between the pipes, anchored the Sharks defense with 19 saves.
The first goal of the game came more than 36 minutes into action.
Shark defenseman Scott Hannan hustled to the sideboards to keep a San Jose attack going in the second period. As Joe Pavelski nudged a pass to Brent Burns at the blueline, Hannan turned and skated across the left circle. Burns’ low shot turned into a 1-0 San Jose lead when Hannan deftly redirected the puck inside the left post past goaltender Reto Berra.
The offensive play came alive in the final 20 minutes. San Jose scored first, taking a 2-0 edge when Chris Tierney popped the puck past Berra off a short rebound of a Matt Nieto try at the 8:01 mark.
Colorado, one point behind San Jose coming into the game, responded with a goal at 8:54. Matt Duchene came up with his 20th goal of the season when he drove a shot from the right flank that skimmed over Stalock’s left shoulder and into the net.
San Jose came back 78 seconds later to regain the two-goal margin. Logan Couture controlled a turnover behind the Colorado net. Couture earned is 38th assist of the season when he threaded a pass between the legs of defenseman Nate Guenin to a streaking Patrick Marleau in the slot for a chip shot over Berra at 10:12.
The Sharks posted two goals after Berra was pulled for an extra skater. Couture earned his 26th goal with his shot from the redline into the net at 15:55. John Scott finished the scoring when he backhanded a shot from the San Jose zone into the Colorado net at 16:28 for his third goal of the campaign.
