NHL Game Summary - San Jose at Colorado
Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski scored in the shootout with Antti Niemi adding two saves in the final segment, as San Jose claimed a 3-2 victory over Colorado at Pepsi Center.
Brent Burns and Logan Couture tallied in regulation for the Sharks, who have won two in a row after dropping four straight. Niemi added 31 saves.
Alex Tanguay and Gabriel Landeskog lit the lamp for the Avalanche, who have suffered their last three defeats beyond regulation. Semyon Varlamov took the loss despite making 49 saves.
"This is very disappointing. We finally came out in the third and played our game. We have to keep playing like this from the start," noted Landeskog.
San Jose opened the scoring just shy of the midway point of the first period, when Mirco Mueller's point drive hit Burns in front, changed direction and beat Varlamov to the right post.
"Offensively he's been an absolute force for us. He's getting better defensively. Big, big part of our team right now," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan of Burns.
Colorado allowed 23 first-period shots, but that was the only one Varlamov let slip through.
Tanguay evened things with 6:36 remaining in the second while the hosts were shorthanded, gloving down an Erik Johnson lob at the blue line, skating from right to left and outwaiting Niemi before stuffing home a shot from the left post.
Landeskog's low wrister from the left circle eluded Niemi and gave the Avs a 2-1 edge at 3:04 of the third, but Couture struck inside of two minutes to draw the Sharks even. He followed up Justin Braun's drive which clanged off the crossbar and scored on the forehand.
Colorado had a prime chance to end the contest when Marleau was called for slashing the stick out of Johnson's hands with 65 seconds left in overtime.
Matt Duchene was denied from the right post by Niemi in the final second.
"We're happy to get the two points. Of course, that was a big save, and it really did give us confidence going forward," said Niemi.
Marleau began the shootout with a wrister, then after Tanguay's bid failed, Pavelski answered with a shot just under the crossbar. Duchene's backhand bid was smothered to end the contest.