San Jose Sharks Rout Colorado To Close Out First Half

Now that’s how you’re supposed to head into the All-Star break.

The San Jose Sharks took care of business in resounding fashion as San Jose dismantled the visiting Colorado Avalanche by a 6-1 margin. The Sharks wrap up the unofficial first half of the season riding a wave of momentum as San Jose extended their point streak to 10 games (8-0-2).

The balanced attack of the Sharks offense continued in this one as six different players found the back of the net for San Jose, including the first career NHL goal for defenseman Dylan DeMelo.

From the onset, this wasn’t a close contest as San Jose was determined to jump on their opponents right away. San Jose’s fourth line did a great job on the forecheck as Chris Tierney fed Brent Burns at the point and his shot deflected in off Melker Karlsson for his sixth goal of the season to get the Sharks off and running.

San Jose continued to apply pressure, constantly forcing Colorado into multiple turnovers that fueled the Sharks attack. The lead doubled when Joe Thornton found Marc-Edouard Vlasic alone at the left point. His shot would be stopped by Avalanche netminder Calvin Pickard, but Tomas Hertl would be there to bang in the rebound for his 10th goal of the year and fourth in his last six games.

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With the assist, Thornton extended his point streak to 10 games, but he wasn’t done on this night as his next point found him reaching a pretty big milestone.

After a dominating first 20 minutes of play, San Jose broke things open at their power play went to work. With Colorado already a man down, Francois Beauchemin tripped Patrick Marleau as he drove to the net, giving the Sharks a 5-on-3 advantage.

San Jose would capitalize as Thornton fed a perfect seam pass to a wide open Joe Pavelski who buried it in the gaping net for his 25th of the season, extending his goal streak to three games. Thornton’s assist on the play would be his 1,300th career point as he continues to rack up the points during this recent surge.

The Sharks weren’t done making the Avalanche pay though as following a shot from the point that Pickard dropped, Joel Ward crashed the net and had the puck rebound off him for his 15th goal of the year as the rout was officially on.

Pickard would be replaced in favor of Roman Will for the last 20 minutes, but San Jose continued to find the back of the net. Colorado head coach Patrick Roy is known to be aggressive in pulling his goaltender, and he did that at different points in the first half of the third period. However, Paul Martin would find the empty net for just his second goal this season at the 8:21 mark.

All that was left to see is whether Martin Jones would keep his shutout in tact. Unfortunately, Nathan MacKinnon would one-time an absolute rocket past Jones on the power play to spoil the shutout bid.

But the Sharks still weren’t done as they found themselves with a late power play in the waning moments of the game. After corralling a loose puck, Hertl found DeMelo alone at the point and he walked in and beat Will for his first career goal.

It was the perfect cap to another great night of Sharks hockey as San Jose has finally hit their stride, especially at home. After beginning the season 5-12-0 at SAP Center, team teal has gone 5-0-2 over their last seven games on home ice.

With the convincing victory, San Jose sits in second place in the Pacific Division with a 26-18-4 record and 56 points. As it stands now, they are trail the Los Angeles Kings by seven points for the division lead, but the Kings will be in action tonight against these same Avalanche.

Next: Sharks Reclaim Sole Possession Of Second Place

The Sharks now get to enjoy a week off to recharge and get ready for the stretch run. It’s been quite the turn around for San Jose during the month of January and they’ve put themselves in a solid position to make the playoffs.