It probably was just a coincidence.
With the Wisconsin Badgers in town for a weekend series against the University of Denver, the San Jose Sharks’ former Badgers provided much of the spark in a 4-2 victory over the Avalanche on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.
Joe Pavelski, the diminutive Wisconsin native who played for the Badgers from 2004-06, had two second-period power-play goals as the Sharks snapped their losing streak at three games. Dany Heatley, a Badger from 1999-2001, assisted on both Pavelski goals.
Pavelski’s goals were similar, coming on shots into a virtual open net as he was stationed to the right of scrambling Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson with Colorado skating short-handed — including two men down on the second goal. Pavel- ski had five goals in the six-game, opening-round playoff series victory over the Avalanche last spring, so it looked a bit familiar.
“I wish I knew,” Pavelski said, smiling, of his success against the Avalanche. “Maybe it’s the lighting. I don’t think it’s the altitude.”
Avalanche coach Joe Sacco suited up seven defensemen for the second game in a row. But captain Adam Foote suffered a head injury in the first period and didn’t return, leaving the Avs with the usual complement of six defensemen for the final two periods. Sacco didn’t offer a prognosis for Foote’s injury, adding, “We’ll know more (today).”
Kyle Cumiskey and Milan Hejduk had the Colorado goals, and Chris Stewart had two assists, in only the Avalanche’s second home game of the season and its first since the Oct. 7 opener against Chicago.
The Sharks were 2-for-5 on the power play. Pavelski’s first goal came with Matt Duchene in the penalty box for tripping, the second on a 5-on-3 after Kevin Porter was called for holding and then TJ Galiardi drew a delay-of-game minor for sending the puck over the glass.
Duchene drew three of the six Avalanche minors, which didn’t please Sacco.
“The high stick on me at the end (16:16 of the third), I didn’t even touch him,” Duchene said. “I’ve seen the replay. I told the ref that, but they made the call. But we have to be more disciplined, me included. I took three penalties. Whether they’re warranted or not, I can’t do that. That was the difference tonight. You can’t take penalties against a team like that. They have too many weapons.”
Said Sacco: “It was a well- played game, but in the second period, we take four penalties in a row, and against that team and in this league, you can’t do that. That’s two games in a row now where we’re taking too many unnecessary penalties, and to me, it simply was the difference in the game. And Matt had three of those penalties.”
Hejduk’s power-play goal got the Avs to within 3-2 at 7:25 of the third. After that, the Avs couldn’t capitalize on a 4-on-3 stretch that lasted 1:56, and Logan Couture added an empty- netter for the Sharks at 18:48.
Avalanche defenseman John- Michael Liles had an assist, giving him at least one assist in all seven Colorado games this season and setting a Quebec-Colorado franchise record for the longest assist streak to open a season, surpassing Paul Stastny’s six-game streak in 2008-09. It also is a franchise record for consecutive games with points by a defenseman at the start of a season, surpassing Sandis Ozolinsh’s six games in 1996-97.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
