Sharks Blow Two Goal Lead In Colorado, Fall 4-3 to Avalanche

Denver, CO (Sports Network) – Kevin Porter scored 2:07 into overtime, as the Colorado Avalanche rallied to beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3, at Pepsi Center.

The Avalanche erased a 3-1 third-period deficit on goals by Chris Stewart and Paul Stastny.

Rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk notched his first NHL goal for Colorado, which has won two games in a row for the first time since October 28 and 30.

Peter Budaj, making his 10th consecutive start in place of the injured Craig Anderson, finished with 40 saves in the victory.

Logan Couture, Dan Boyle and Mike Moore each had a goal for the Sharks, who were denied a fourth straight win. Antero Niittymaki made just 18 saves to take the loss.

“I was happy with our game even though we lost the game; that’s the disappointing thing,” said San Jose head coach Todd McLellan. “But for the most part I thought we played a real solid game. They scored a couple of goals at fortunate times for them. I thought it was a tough game for (Niittymaki) to play because he didn’t see a lot of rubber for most of the night. There were a lot of real positives to take out of tonight’s game though.”

San Jose appeared to have taken a three-goal lead 5:35 into the third period, but the official waved off Jamie McGinn’s tally because of a high stick. The call on the ice stood following a video review.

Stewart ignited the comeback at 8:38, pushing the puck down the right wing and firing a wrister from the middle of the circle through the legs of Niittymaki.

Stastny’s pinpoint shot from nearly the same spot from which Stewart lit the lamp tied the game with 5:11 remaining.

In the extra session, Porter jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat Niittymaki with a sliding backhander.

“It was an awesome play by (Porter),” Stastny said on the game-winning goal. “He was just flying with the puck. He beats the (defenseman) wide, then the goalie comes out and he just beat him low.”

Couture scored 42 seconds into the game, chipping in the rebound of a Ryane Clowe shot behind Budaj.

Shattenkirk evened the score with 1:33 remaining in the first period. With Boyle serving a hooking penalty, Shattenkirk, the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft, collected a loose puck in the left circle and beat Niittymaki with a shot to the glove side.

Just 1:09 into the middle stanza, Boyle restored the lead for San Jose. Moore then extended the advantage to 3-1 when he beat Budaj on a screened shot from the point for his first NHL tally at 9:14 of the second period.

Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles had two assists…Colorado’s Joe Sacco coached his 100th career game…The last time Budaj made 10 or more consecutive starts was a 12-game stretch from November 2-28, 2008…San Jose was 0-for-5 on the power play. Colorado entered play with the worst penalty- killing unit on home ice…The Avalanche rallied from a two-goal deficit to win for the third time this season.

Sharks Get Going On The Road, Taking On Colorado

It wasn't the best homestand, but San Jose took four of five in HP Pavilion with nine out of a possible ten points, beating the conference-leading Los Angeles Kings in the process. Is this the fabled "consistency," that we've found to be ever-so-elusive? Dealing with such a small sample size, it's unclear, but without a proper measuring stick of how many games it takes to have a credible sample size, the Sharks may just be on the verge of the aforementioned consistency.

Making subtle adjustments here and there, the Sharks came alive after back-to-back road shutouts to post victories over the Lightning, Islanders, Flames and Kings, with an overtime loss thrown in there from the Ducks, which admittedly must have stung, hated rivals and all. A three game winning streak, and the previous woes to start the season all appear to be behind them. Now is their chance to beat up on another team lacking consistency, as the Avalanche haven't won back to back games in over two weeks. Needless to say, things are going as planned for the Sharks, who were relieved to get a big win before heading off on the road, as Scott Nichol (who scored in the outing versus Los Angeles) noted:

"[The Kings are] the big dogs, they're playing real well. They were the hottest team in the NHL," Nichol said. "It was nice for us to come in and play our style and have a big home win. We go on the road for a couple and we wanted to end our homestand with a win and we did."    

In their last outing, Joe Pavelski got himself back into scoring after seemingly taking some time off in that department; grabbing a goal and an assist in the crushing victory over the Kings. He'll likely be on point for tonight's game against Colorado, as he was key in the Sharks last game against them: grabbing two goals on the power play earlier this year on October 21st.

The Sharks have won three of the last four against the Avalanche, and seven of their last nine, including four of their last six at the Pepsi Center in Denver.