SAN JOSE, Calif. — Logan Couture’s redirection goal with 8:31 remaining in regulation Thursday night completed San Jose’s improbable third-period comeback and 5-4 victory over the Avalanche at HP Pavilion.
The loss extended Colorado’s winless drought on the road to nine games (0-8-1), after beginning 6-0, and it overshadowed excellent performance by Avs forwards Daniel Winnik and Paul Stastny.
“Don’t know what to say. Disappointed,” Avs defenseman Jan Hejda said. “We have to win games like this, especially against teams from our conference. Just a big mistake, the third period.”
Playing on the same line for the first time this season, Stastny had two goals and an assist and Winnik produced a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight) in the second period alone.
Their play, coupled with Ryan O’Reilly’s power-play goal and an overall excellent effort for the first 40 minutes, gave the Avs a 4-2 lead heading into the third period. Things began to unravel in front of goalie Semyon Varlamov on Colorado’s second shift, and Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Couture put pucks behind Varlamov within a 4:29 span — at 7:00, 8:29 and 11:29.
San Jose, which bowed to the Avs 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday in Denver, won for just the third time in 10 games and improved to 3-3-2 this month. Colorado goes for its fifth consecutive victory at home Saturday against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
After assisting on Stastny’s second goal and and helping produce a YouTube-quality fight with San Jose’s Ryane Clowe, Winnik completed his Howe “hatty” with a tap-in goal off a Stastny feed to give Colorado a 4-2 lead late in the second period.
The Avs rallied from a 1-0 deficit, after Varlamov made a costly outlet pass that was intercepted and ultimately turned into Clowe’s rebound goal 2:30 into the game. But Stastny tied it on the power play at 5:51 and O’Reilly made Colorado 2-for-2 with the man-advantage with 11 seconds to play in the first period.
Another costly mistake, this time by defenseman Shane O’Brien, led to Michal Handzus’ goal early in the second period, but Stastny and Winnik shined the rest of the frame. Stastny made it 3-2 with a backhander at 3:01 and Winnik’s tap-in at 18:21 capped an impressive puck-control shift with defensemen Kyle Quincey and Stefan Elliott and newcomer David Van Der Gulik.
Stastny would have had a four-point evening if assists were credited to the person scoring the goal. His faceoff win led to his first goal. He tapped the puck behind to defenseman Erik Johnson and then redirected Johnson’s blast past goalie Antti Niemi.
The Sharks’ first three goals came after defensive breakdowns, the latter by blue-liner Hejda. Hejda and Johnson entered the game with minus-14 ratings.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Logan Couture. Goal and assist for the Sharks.
2. Paul Stastny. Two goals and an assist for the Avs’ center.
3. Daniel Winnik. Assist, fight and a goal for the Avs’ winger in the second.
What you might have missed:
After two periods, the Avs held advantages in hits (22-8), blocked shots (16-11) and faceoffs won (24-19).
Next up:
Washington, Saturday at the Pepsi Center, 7 p.m.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
