Sharks vs Avalanche – WCR2 Game #2 – 2019 Video Highlights
2019.04.28 (Sharks vs. Avalanche) WCR2 Game #2 – See blog below
It’s All Even – Avalanche beat Sharks 4-3 WCR2 Game 2
20Colorado Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog (92) celebrates a goal against San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (31) by teammate Tyson Barrie (not shown) in the second period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, April 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Josie Lepe)
2019.04.28 – Colorado Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog scored the first goal and the tie-breaking tally from Tyson Barrie, send the Avalanche to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks that tied the second-round series at a game apiece.
“In the first period, we didn’t get much going so maybe he wanted to switch a little bit and see if it brings a spark,” Rantanen said. “We got an early goal from Landy and there was no changing back.”
Landeskog, Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon were reunited early in the second period and helped provide goals on the first and fourth shifts, turning the tide of the series in Colorado’s direction after a 5-2 loss in the opener.
Former Shark Matt Nieto scored in the third period and MacKinnon added an empty-netter to give Colorado its third victory in its past 24 games in San Jose. Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves.
“It’s big for our confidence,” said Barrie, who had a goal and two assists. “This is a tough building to win in. We haven’t had a whole lot of success here. We wanted to come in and at least get a split. We did that.”
Brent Burns scored twice and Evander Kane also scored for the Sharks, who had won four straight games. Martin Jones made 28 saves.
The Avalanche turned the game around thanks to their top line that has been so dangerous all year. Landeskog got to the front the net to deflect a point shot from Barrie past Jones for the equalizer midway through the second.
The ice was tilted Colorado’s way after that and the trio helped deliver again a couple of shifts later. Rantanen raced past Marc-Edouard Vlasic to negate an icing and create a scoring chance for Colorado. Jones made a good stop on Landeskog from in close but the puck went out to Barrie at the top of the faceoff circle and he beat Jones with a shot to the top corner to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
“I just tried to beat the D and run the puck down,” Rantanen said. “Landy gave me the 50-50 puck and they didn’t whistle it down so it was good for us.”
The Sharks appeared to slow up on the play in anticipation of the icing call and that brief hesitation proved costly when the linesman didn’t blow the play dead.
“Whether I thought it was doesn’t matter,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “The players did and they let up, they relaxed for a minute, it obviously wasn’t, so it’s I guess a lesson, and that is don’t assume anything is in the playoffs, play and make sure.”
The Sharks had a chance to tie it early in the third but Grubauer robbed Logan Couture from the slot with a glove save.
Shortly after, Nieto scored following a scramble in front of Jones after a turnover by Marcus Sorensen to make it 3-1 and give the Avalanche some breathing room.
Burns scored with a wrister from the top circle to make it a one-goal game with 4:34 to play.
But MacKinnon scored an empty-netter with 1:02 to play that made Burns’ power-play goal with 10.9 seconds left moot.
The Sharks got off to a fast start as they looked to build on their 5-2 victory in the series opener. They looked like the quicker team early and appeared to have much more energy than they did Friday night when they were still recovering from a grueling seven-game series in the first round.
That paid off midway through the first when Kane beat rookie Cale Makar to the rebound of Burns’ point shot and knocked it past Grubauer for his first goal since the playoff opener.
The Sharks had plenty of more chances late in the period but were unable to get anything else past Grubauer, who made a brilliant glove save to rob Kevin Labanc in the final minute of the first.
“We should’ve been up two or three after the first,” Couture said. “We had too many good looks not to score a second one and give ourselves a bigger lead, and then they found their game in the second.”
NOTES: MacKinnon and Rantanen extended their point streaks to six games, the first time an Avalanche player has done that in the postseason since Peter Forsberg had a seven-gamer in 2004. … F Micheal Haley returned to the Sharks lineup after missing the past five games with a lower-body injury. Dylan Gambrell was scratched. … San Jose captain Joe Pavelski (concussion) and F Joonas Donskoi (undisclosed) remain sidelined.
Game 3 is Tuesday night in Denver.
Read more at: San Jose Sharks Media Services / More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the San Jose Sharks, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
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Sharks vs Avalanche – WCR2 Game #1 – 2019 Video Highlights
2019.04.26 (Sharks vs. Avalanche) WCR2 Game #1 – See blog below
Thornton Scores! Sharks beat Avalanche 5-2 Game #1
San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton (19), celebrates after scoring goal against Colorado Avalanche in the second period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, April 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Josie Lepe)
2019.04.26 – Joe Thornton sparked a three-goal outburst in the second period after San Jose killed off a four-minute penalty, leading the Sharks to a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1.
“The first period was a struggle to be honest with you,” Thornton said. “I don’t think we had too much early on but we kind of felt our groove as the middle of the game went on.”
After enduring a grueling seven-game series in the first round, the San Jose Sharks predictably needed some time to find their legs again at the start of round two. One key penalty kill proved to be just the kick start they needed.
San Jose trailed 2-1 when Brenden Dillon was called for a high-sticking double minor. The Sharks managed to kill both penalties and then took over the game with a strong performance from the third line.
“That was a game-changer,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We needed that. We talked going into the playoffs and after the first round that our special teams were going to have to win us games. We won one with the power play last game and I thought our penalty kill was a big part of it tonight.”
Thornton tied it midway through the period off a feed from Marcus Sorensen on a 2-on-1 rush shortly after the penalty was killed. Kevin Labanc, the third member of that line, gave the Sharks the lead with an impressive sequence that featured him deking Mikko Rantanen by playing the puck through his legs before scoring from the slot.
Brent Burns added the fourth goal late in the period when his shot from the boards deflected past Philipp Grubauer with Sorensen in front of the net. Thornton got an assist on the play, giving him 100 career helpers in the postseason.
Gustav Nyquist scored the first goal for San Jose, Timo Meier added an empty-netter and Martin Jones made 26 saves to send the Sharks to their fourth straight win. Burns also had three assists.
“It can be tough obviously after a Game 7 like that, but we did a great job,” Jones said. “We hung in there early in the game, and I really liked the job we did in the third. We were grinding them in the o-zone and we didn’t really give them much.”
Gabriel Bourque and Colin Wilson scored for the Avalanche, who were unable to carry over the momentum from a dominant first-round win against Pacific Division champion Calgary. Grubauer made 22 saves.
“We took five or 10 minutes off in the second and it cost us,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said.
The intensity in the Shark Tank had dropped a bit from Tuesday night, when San Jose rallied from three goals down in the third period before winning Game 7 in overtime against Vegas.
While the Sharks needed back-to-back overtime games to knock off the Golden Knights, Colorado was resting with six days off after a five-game win over the Flames that sent the Avalanche into the second round for the first time since 2008.
The impact of the reduced rest was felt as captain Joe Pavelski remained sidelined from his concussion in Game 7 and fellow forward Joonas Donskoi remained sidelined from a hard hit in Game 6.
The Avalanche had the edge early and capitalized with Bourque’s goal on a rebound of Cale Makar’s shot just 2:10 into the game.
Jones kept the deficit at one with a brilliant pad save against Carl Soderberg. The Sharks then got the equalizer when Logan Couture won an offensive zone draw to Burns, who maneuvered into the slot and put a shot on net. Grubauer stopped it but Nyquist knocked in the rebound.
Colorado had a goal wiped off later in the period when replays showed Rantanen kicked the puck into the net, and Jones robbed Soderberg again on a breakaway late in the first.
Rantanen helped the Avalanche get on the scoreboard early in the second when he fed Wilson in the slot for a goal on the power play. But the Sharks took over from there.
“We played really good for the first 30 minutes and then it got away from us in the last 10 minutes in the middle of the second,” defense-man Tyson Barrie said. “We just couldn’t get it back. They took it to us at the end of the second period and they had the momentum.”
NOTES: Thornton is the 100th player with 100 career playoff assists. … Colorado D Samuel Girard returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. … Sharks F Dylan Gambrell made his playoff debut. He has played 11 regular-season games the past two seasons without recording a point.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday in San Jose.
Read more at: San Jose Sharks Media Services / More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the San Jose Sharks, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
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