by Jerry Feitelberg

photo courtesy of Google Images & cover photo: goldengatesports.com Joe Thornton

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks continued to play well as the beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-1 Tuesday night at the SAP Arena. The Sharks had a tough loss in overtime  Sunday night to the Los Angeles Kings. They wanted to rebound from the loss and they took out their frustration on the Avalanche.  The Sharks scored two goals in each period and were dominant for most of the game. Coach DeBoer’s line changes are paying off as the Sharks have regained their mojo and are starting to win at home. The Sharks have picked eighteen out of twenty possible points in the last ten games. They are 8-0-2 in that stretch and are now in second place in the Pacific Division with fifty-six points. The Avalanche, under coach Patrick Roy, are in third place in the Central Division. The Avalanche got off to a bad start but they played well in December with twelve wins and are 6-4 in January.

The Sharks came out flying. They had to match the speed of the Colorado Avalanche and they did just that as they took a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Sharks tallied the first goal of the game with 6:19 played. Brent Burns let a rocket go from the right point that bounced off Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson fo the score. Karlsson scored his sixth of the year and assists went to Tierney and Burns. Tomas Hertl gave the Sharks a two-goal lead when he banged the puck by Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard. The play started on a terrific pass from Joe Thornton across ice to Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Vlasic found Hertl on the left side of the net and Tomas flipped the puck by Pickard. Hertl notched his tenth of the year and assists went to Vlasic and Thornton. The assist gave Big Joe his 1299th point of his career. The Sharks had the edge in shots on goal 9-6.

The Sharks scored two more goals in the second period to take a 4-0 lead. The Sharks started the period on the power play but could not convert. The Sharks then killed a penalty when Brendan Dillon was called for delay of game with 6:21 played in the period. The Avalanche started to push back but the Sharks met the challenge and kept them from scoring. The Avalanche’s Andreas Martinsen went to the penalty box for 2 minutes for boarding at 13:43. Francois Beauchemin was called for tripping fifty-two seconds later to put two men in the penalty box. The Sharks went had a five on three advantage and they cashed in. Joe Thornton made a beautiful pass across the crease to a waiting Joe Pavelski. Pavelski had an open net and he scored his 25th of the year. Thornton, with his second assist of the night, scored his 1300th career point. He became the 33rd plyer in NHL history to score 1300 points. He now has scored seventeen points in his last eighteen games. The Sharks scored again just fifty seconds later on a five on four power play. Joel Ward scored an unassisted goal with 16:18 played to make it a 4-0 game in favor of San Jose.

Avalanche coach, Patrick Roy pulled Calvin Pickard and replaced him with backup goalie Roman Will. Will, called up from the AHL, was making his NHL debut. The Sharks’ defenseman Paul Martin scored an empty net goal with 11:33 left in the game. Erik Johnson of the Avalanche and the Sharks Tomas Hertl were penalized two minutes for roughing. Avalanche coach Roy pulled his goalie and put an extra skater on the ice to make it a five on four but Martin spoiled the strategy by putting the puck in the empty net.The Avalanche got on the board when Nathan Mackinnon score on a power play with 8:25 left in the game. The Sharks got the goal back with just 56.3 seconds left in the game. Sharks’ rookie defenseman, Dylan Demelo, scored his first NHL goal of his young NHL career. The assist went to Hertl. San Jose wins 6-1.

Game Notes- The Sharks are off until next Tuesday night when the play the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim. The NHL All-Star weekend kicks off Friday night in Nashville. Joe Thornton had two assists to give him 1300 points in his career. Thornton is just one point behind Al McInnis is assists all-time and is sixteenth place in that category. Joel Ward continues to play well as he scored a goal and it was his fifth goal in his last eleven games. Goalie Martin Jones picked up his twenty-third win of the season