For the ninth consecutive game, the Avalanche produced a power-play goal. And on Thursday at Ball Arena, it served as the game-winning tally in a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Winger Mikko Rantanen scored his team-leading 34th goal on the power play to give Colorado a 3-2 lead with 7:43 remaining in the third period. Winger Andre Burakovsky added one at even strength 3:01 later and the Avs completed a three-game regular-season sweep over San Jose.
Colorado produced 18 of 23 shots in the third period.
“Third period, we got ramped up offensively, for sure, but defensively, the whole night, I thought we were good,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said.
The Avs, who were 11 for 24 (45.8%) on the power play in their previous eight games, got top-line center Nathan MacKinnon back in the lineup after a one-game absence because of a hand injury that originally was deemed significant. He didn’t produce a point but played well in more than 22 minutes.
Colorado (48-14-6) reached 102 points — sixth-most in club history — and still has 14 games remaining. The Avs improved to 27-4-3 at home.
“It’s the way you need to play down the stretch. We’ve done that now for a number of games in a row,” Bednar said. “We’re finding ways to get enough goals. The (power play) is part of it. They were good again tonight, got another big goal for us. That’s what you have to do. You have to tighten things up on the defensive side of it and still find a way to produce the offense. We’re just getting enough to win the hockey games right now.”
The weary Sharks (29-29-8) were coming off a 5-2 loss at Arizona on Wednesday, and they lost an hour after arriving in Denver around 3 a.m. Thursday. But they rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, forging the 2-2 tie early in the third period shortly after the Avs took their second lead of the game.
At 3:05, Avs forward Darren Helm capped a great play by Valeri Nichushkin to make it a 2-1 game. Nichushkin intercepted a Sharks clearing pass and dished to Helm, who scored crossbar-down on goalie Kappo Kahkonen.
“(Nishushkin) made a good jump, knocked the puck down with his hand and made a pretty nice sauce pass over to me,” Helm said. “It was really nice play by him.”
Minutes later, defenseman Brett Burns used a low shot off an offensive-zone faceoff to beat goalie Pavel Francouz at 6:29.
“I would like to have the second goal back,” Francouz said. It was kind of like a weird situation when you lose the draw and I was trying to find the puck. I found it when it was like (too close to) me, so I wasn’t able to get eyes on it as quickly as I needed.”
It was tied 1-1 going into the third period after each team struck in the second. Colorado opened the scoring 1:52 into the second, using a quick wrist shot from the high slot to beat Kahkonen. Defenseman Kurtis MacDermid had the primary assist. He took a D-to-D pass from partner Erik Johnson against the left wall and found Newhook in the middle.
The Sharks challenged the goal, believing forward J.T. Compher interfered with Kahkonen while setting the screen in front of him. The officials didn’t see it that way and San Jose was assessed a delay-of-game minor.
The Avs failed to capitalize on the power play, falling to 0 for 2 with the man-advantage, and then committed three consecutive penalties. The first one never got served, because the Sharks scored on the delayed penalty to nullify it.
Forward Timo Meier beat Francouz after taking a short pass from the doorstep from linemate Tomas Hertl, immediately after he was tripped to the ice and the referee’s arm was raised. Two ensuing Avalanche penalties helped keep the hosts from generating much pressure on Kahkonen for the rest of the period.
Footnotes. Forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel was the Avs’ lone healthy scratch. Forward Gabe Landeskog (knee) and defensemen Sam Girard (back) and Ryan Murray (hand/arm) remain out with injuries. … Avs rookie defenseman Bo Byram, who hasn’t played since Jan. 10 because of concussion-related issues, was reassigned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles for a conditioning stint on Thursday afternoon. The move could lead to Byram’s third NHL comeback attempt this season. Byram, 20, had at least two concussions in 2021. He has been practicing with the Avs in recent weeks but was technically on personal leave. Bednar said Byram is eligible to play in three AHL games in six days.
