The Avalanche’s special teams are special in the way the Church Lady from “Saturday Night Live” would use the word.
This was the Avalanche’s modus operandi for finishing off the San Jose Sharks after getting a one-goal lead midway through the third period Wednesday night: Take a couple of penalties 27 seconds apart and give the NHL’s best power play a two- man advantage.
If that was the Avalanche’s means for goalie Jose Theodore to bail the team out, it failed miserably. What looked to be Colorado’s first win in four games, after captain Joe Sakic scored an inspiring, tiebreaking goal, turned into another loss after the Sharks quickly capitalized on the penalties and went on to a 4-3 victory at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado (7-9-2) has lost four in a row, the first time that’s happened in regulation since the first four games of the 1998-99 season.
“We played a heck of a game, to lose,” said Avs coach Joel Quenneville, whose team outshot the Sharks 43-26. “We did a lot of things right for 60 minutes. Obviously, that 5-on-3 was huge for them.”
Special teams were again to blame for the loss. Not just in the two third-period Sharks power- play goals 17 seconds apart, by Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. But Colorado’s power-play unit went 0-for-4 and is now 2 for its past 36. And, the Avs allowed another short-handed goal when San Jose’s Curtis Brown beat Theodore to the far post at 1:34 of the second period to tie the game 1-1.
“Everybody’s trying too hard,” said Avs winger Antti Laaksonen, whose goal in the second period was his first point of the season. “We’ve just got to do the basic things: Get the puck out, get a change and get the fresh guys out there. Everybody’s trying too much.”
The Avs put 21 shots on net in the second period but did not score. That was the key to the game. The Avs dominated the Sharks territorially. But Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov played well, and the Avs did him favors by hitting the post a couple of times and missing on other yawning nets.
The other key was the penalties so close together in the third. First, the Avs were whistled for too many men at 10:22. Not long after, Avs defender Brett Clark was called for hooking, after the Sharks had an odd-man rush and Clark was caught behind the play.
Clark did not dispute the call, but Quenneville said there never should have been a call, because the play was offside.
“I saw the replay,” he said.
Thornton scored the tying goal at 10:55 after Karlis Skrastins gave the puck away on an attempted clearout. Marleau tapped home an easy rebound in close at 11:12 for the game-winner.
The goals wasted Sakic’s brilliant wrist shot off the rush that gave the Avs a 3-2 lead with 11:28 left. The loss obviously stung. But Sakic took some heart from the team’s overall effort and performance.
“The effort was there,” Sakic said. “We keep playing like that, we’re going to get rewarded.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
