San Jose Sharks Beat The Avalanche 3-2 In Shootout

The San Jose Sharks tried to continue their winning ways like they did against Anaheim when facing off against the Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks met the Avs speed. They played much better than the Colorado Avalanche, even when they aren’t very good against quicker teams. But, on this night, they were much better.

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In the first period, the Sharks dominated. The Sharks kept it in the offensive zone for most of the first period. What broke the tie in the first, was when Brent Burns drove the net hard and created a chance on net. Thornton got the rebound, passed it to Mirco Mueller at the point, who then shot it and eventually was tipped in by Burns who remained in the front of the net. The only thing that kept the Avalanche in the game was Semyon Varlamov.

Varlamov finished with 49 saves.

In the Second period, the Avalanche played much better than the Sharks by playing more in the offensive zone. The Sharks though, just keep shooting on Varlamov and Varlamov keeps shutting the door on the Sharks. In the middle of the second period, the Sharks go on the Powerplay, Alex Tanguay ties the game with a beautiful deke on Logan Couture and Antti Niemi. The Sharks have given 3 shorthanded goals this year; that’s the most in the National Hockey League. The Sharks have been doing a great job with the offensive pressure and playing solid defense in the second period.

In the third period, the Avalanche struck early. Gabriel Landeskog came up the middle of the ice while Burns forced him to the outside. Unfortunately the block wasn’t enough and he scored five hole on Niemi. Niemi should have the shot though. Just a few minutes later, Justin Braun came up to the play and beat Varlamov, but hit the post and Couture grabbed the rebound and scored. Niemi made a key glove save to keep it 2-2. Niemi had 31 Saves . Colorado dominated the third period but couldn’t quite get that third goal.

And as the game went into overtime and the shootout, the Sharks won with Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski scoring, while the Avs didn’t make one shot.

The Sharks gave a good effort against the Avalanche. For the majority of the game, they had the Colorado Avalanche on their heels in the offensive zone, lots of shots and a very good defensive effort. If they keep playing like this, they’ll win a ton of more games with this formula. Look for Niemi in the next game against the Wild.

Sharks play the Minnesota Wild on Thursday at 5 pm.