Sharks go the distance to beat Avs
The official game recap San Jose Sharks vs Colorado Avalanche.The San Jose Sharks took 51 shots on goal Tuesday, but needed the shootout to beat Semyon Varlamov and the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.
Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski scored in the shootout and Sharks goalie Antti Niemi stopped Alex Tanguay and Matt Duchene in a 3-2 victory.
The Avalanche had a power play for the final 1:05 of overtime after Marleau knocked Erik Johnson's stick from his hands with a slash, but they couldn't take advantage.
The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 51-33 for the game.
Colorado took a 2-1 lead at 3:04 of the third period on a goal by Gabriel Landeskog, who skated into the left circle and beat Niemi low to the far side for his fourth goal, tying Tanguay for the team lead.
But the Sharks countered at 5:03 when Logan Couture scored after Justin Braun fired a shot off the left post. Couture got to the puck and ripped it by goalie Varlamov.
The Avalanche showed more life in the third period than they did in the first two, but Niemi made a couple of tough saves on Ryan O'Reilly and Maxime Talbot.
The Sharks had a 49-29 advantage in shots through regulation.
San Jose dominated the Avalanche in the first two periods, outshooting them 41-17, but the game was tied 1-1 because Varlamov made numerous big saves and Tanguay scored a second-period shorthanded goal at 13:24.
The Sharks were on their second power play of the game after Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie was penalized for hooking when Varlamov dived to his right to prevent Pavelski from scoring at the edge of the crease.
Shortly after, Johnson lofted a clearing attempt that San Jose's Brent Burns tried to knock forward with his glove while standing at his own blue line. The puck landed behind him and Tanguay gained possession. He skated into the slot, stepped around Couture between the circles and found the back of the net.
Tanguay has four goals and two assists in a six-game scoring streak.
Varlamov made a save against Tommy Wingels on another power play later in the period and he made a pad stop on Marleau, who was open for a shot in the right circle with 5.6 seconds left in the period.
The Sharks have owned the first period this season, outscoring opponents 13-1. They dominated the Avalanche in the first, outshot them 23-8 and took a 1-0 lead that would have been much larger except for the play of Varlamov.
Rookie defenseman Mirco Mueller, playing in his eighth NHL game, scored his first goal at 9:23 with a shot from the blue line off a pass from Joe Thornton. Burns drove to the net for a shot that Varlamov stopped, but Thornton corralled the rebound, came from behind the net and fed Mueller.
The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 19-2 after Mueller scored, launching 14 consecutive shots before Landeskog forced Niemi to make a stop at 15:21. Niemi made a nice glove save against Duchene, who was in the slot with 1.5 seconds left.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
29/10/2014 - 05:30
