Sharks Fall to the Ducks 2-1 in Shootout

The San Jose Sharks Nikolai Knyzhov (71) gets behind the puck while the Anaheim Ducks Rickard Rakell (67) stays right behind Knyzhov during Sat Feb 7, 2021 game at the Honda Center in Anaheim (AP News photo) 

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 2-1 in a shoot-out to the Anaheim Ducks Saturday. Max Comtois scored the game winner in the shoot-out for Anaheim, with Isac Lundestrom scoring in regulation and Troy Terry also scoring in the shoot-out. Ryan Miller made 26 saves for the win. Logan Couture scored for the Sharks and Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves in the loss.

Saturday’s game was very different from Friday’s goal-fest. While the Sharks held the Ducks to a single goal in regulation and over-time, they did not manage to score more than one either. There was just one change in the forward roster, with Rudolfs Balcers coming in for Alex Chmelevski. Dubnyk was in net instead of Martin Jones, which was to be expected with back-to-back games. Finally, two of the three the defensive pairings were different: Burns was with Ferraro, Karlsson was with Simek, and Vlasic was with Knyzhov. Those changes on defense were probably the most impactful adjustments.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said, of the blue line pairings:

“I thought they all held their own. It was just, it was a bit of a sloppy game. You know, defensively, I have to watch the tape again and it’s tough for e to comment right after, but you know, I thought we had some breakdowns but I thought for the most part we didn’t give up a ton.”

The Sharks started early with a goal just 11 seconds in. Mario Ferraro took a shot that jumped around in some traffic before Logan Couture found it behind Ryan Miller and knocked it in. Assists went to Ferraro and Evander Kane.

That was it for scoring in the first. Special teams got to warm up in the first, with each team getting one power play and a four-on-four. The Sharks did not register any shots on their power play, while Anaheim got credit for seven. The shots were 12-10 Anaheim and the face-off advantage went to the Sharks at 53%.

The Ducks tied the game 5:42 in to the second period. Hampus Lindholm’s shot from the blue line deflected off of Ferraro and then again off of Isac Lundestrom before getting by Dubnyk. It was Lundestrom’s first NHL goal and assists went to Lindholm and Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Sharks had to kill two penalties in the second period and they had no power plays. The Ducks registered three shots in their second period power plays, with a total of nine in the period. The Sharks added twelve shots to their game tally, all at even strength. The Sharks saw a big drop off in their face-off success, winning just 33% in the second period.

The Sharks had just one shot in the third period with 3:56 left in the period. A second later, Mario Ferraro got credit for the team’s second shot. (The first came just over five minutes in, from Patrick Marleau.) The Ducks had eight shots in the same time frame. The Sharks improved a little in the face-off circle but still came in at just 46%. No penalties were called in the third period.

The Sharks had no shots in the overtime period. The Ducks had just two but they had the puck for almost the whole period, though the Sharks won 67% of the draws.

The shoot-out did not start well for either goaltender as the first three shots went in the net. Troy Terry and Max Comtois scored for Anaheim and Ryan Donato scored for San Jose. Logan Couture, Kevin Shattenkirk and Kevin Labanc all had their shots stopped.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Los Angeles against the Kings at 7:00 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: NHL games continued to be postponed due to Covid; Ovechkin moves into 7th on all time goal scoring list

The Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin moved past Mike Gartner on the all time NHL goal scoring list to seventh place on Thursday (file photo from hotsr.com)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Taking a look at some of the postponements in the NHL. The Minnesota Wild have shut down facilities and games due to Coronavirus concerns. Six players are on the NHL Covid-19 protocol list for the next four games and the Wild have their next four games postponed.

#2 Matt a total of 22 NHL games have now been postponed spanning 16 of the 24 NHL teams stateside. If the NHL wanted to get this season going without a hitch wouldn’t have been much safer with at least four bubble cities in Canada with no US travel to make this work or four bubbles in Arizona and Florida to make it work?

#3 The Arizona Coyotes and St Louis Blues will play their series at Enterprise Arena in St Louis on Sunday and Monday after a number of NHL games have been postponed. Arizona was supposed to have played the Wild on Saturday and Sunday and the Blues were suppose to play the Colorado Avalanche this weekend. The Avalanche postponed their games with the Blues because of Covid-19 protocols and the Aves have now postponed four games. The Aves and Wild’s games have been postponed through Feb 11th.

#4 Matt talk about the achievement of the Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin who scored on the New York Rangers on Thursday to move past Mike Gartner into seventh place on the all time goal scorers list.

#5 The San Jose Sharks were supposed to open their home season in Glendale but that was canceled when their opponents the Las Vegas Golden Knights had Covid-19 protocol issues. The Sharks have not played on game in San Jose yet but are scheduled to be there for their first home opener on Sat 13th.

Join Matt Harrington each Saturday night for the NHL podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Podcast with Matt Harrington Sat Feb 6, 2021 by Sports Radio Service | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Sharks Beat Ducks 5-4 in Shoot-Out

The Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell (right) with outstretched stick can’t stop the San Jose Sharks right winger Matt Nieto (left) who takes the puck down ice on Fri Feb 5, 2021 in the Honda Center in Anaheim (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 in a shoot-out at the Honda Center Friday. Sharks goals came from Matt Nieto, Logan Couture, Evander Kane, and Brent Burns. The shoot-out winner came from Kevin Labanc. Martin Jones made 33 saves for the win. The Ducks got goals from Adam Henrique, Troy Terry and Max Comtois (2). John Gibson made 26 saves in the loss. An eight-goal performance was unexpected from two of the lowest-scoring teams in the league. Stranger still, each team had a three-goal period.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about the stunning shift in momentum from the first period to the second, when the game lurched from 1-0 Sharks to 3-1 Ducks:

“Your character’s in question there, when you have such a good first period and you come back and all of a sudden, you know. Hey, our power play didn’t go as well as we thought and that we wanted, and we lost momentum I think that way. But, you know, at the end of the day it’s a five-on-five game and we’ve got to get our five-on-five game established again. I just didn’t like a couple of the goals. I thought we looked basically uninspired in parts of the second period.”

Coming into the game, the Ducks were 4-5-2 on the season. In their previous game, they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. Ryan Getzlaf was out with a lower body injury Friday. The Sharks were 3-5-0. Due to COVID protocol schedule changes, they had a week off after a shut-out loss to Colorado. Alexander Chmelevski made his NHL debut.

Matt Nieto started the scoring with his third goal of the year. Matt Nieto and Marcus Sorensen jumped into the zone two one one. Sorensen had the puck on the outside and waited until he was almost at the goal line before making a pass to Nieto in front of the net at 12:50 of the first period. Assists went to Sorensen and Alexander Chmelevski, Chmelevski’s first NHL point.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks had a 17-8 lead in shots. They had one shot on one power play, gave up a short-handed shot, and trailed in the face-off circle at 44%.

The second period was all Ducks. At 10:03, Adam Henrique tapped a rebound under Martin Jones to tie the game. Assists went to Derek Grant and Troy Terry.

A few minutes later, Terry scored to give Anaheim the lead. Cam Fowler brought the puck into the zone and then passed it to Terry on the outside. Fowler kept going and acted as a screen for Terry’s shot. The assists went to Fowler and Grant.

In the final minutes of the period, Max Comtois made it 3-1. The Sharks had just finished their second scoreless powerplay. An offside call led to a neutral zone face-off that Anaheim won. It took the a couple of tries to get through the neutral zone but finally they made it into the Sharks’zone. Rickard Rakell took advantage of a give-away and skated behind the Sharks net. He found Comtois with a short pass and Comtois’ shot squeezed between Jones and the post.

In the second period, the Ducks out-shot the Sharks 13-3 and won 60% of the face-offs. On the Sharks’ power play, they had one shot and gave one up.

After the game, Boughner acknowledged that a lot was said during the second intermission: “It was time to look ourselves in the mirror a little bit and it was a gut check. And they responded.”

The Sharks’ big guns did indeed respond in the third period. Logan Couture scored in the first minute. Couture dumped the puck in and Evander Kane chased it down in time to sling it in front of the net. Couture was at the net by then and tapped it in while goalie John Gibson was trying to come across. Assists went to Kane and Brent Burns.

Evander Kane tied the game with a short-handed goal at 2:06 of the third. He stole a pass meant for Hampus Lindholm. Chipping it to himself and took a shot from above the face-off dot. The puck sailed by Gibson on the far side.

Brent Burns gave the Sharks their second lead of the game at 8:04. John Gibson had just gotten back into his net after a stroll behind it. Burns took a pass from Ryan Donato and buried it.

The Ducks tied it back up with another goal from Max Comtois. The Ducks won a defensive zone draw, and followed that up with a gruelling long shift in the Sharks zone. Comtois received a cross-ice pass from Carter Rowney and shot the puck past Jones on the glove side. Assists went to Rowney and Lindholm.

The Sharks improved a little in the face-off circle in the third, winning 46% of them. The shot clock favored the Ducks 11-8.

The teams traded good chances for the first couple of minutes until a high stick penalty put the Ducks on the power play. The Sharks got a nice short-handed chance when Marc-Edouard Vlasic got control of the puck and carried it out of the zone. The Sharks killed off a good chunk of the power play moving the puck around the Ducks’ zone and taking one shot.

Ryan Donato shot first for the Sharks and scored. Rickard Rakell shot first for the Ducks and Jones made a great save.

Couture shot second for the Sharks but Gibson shut down the five-hole attempt. Comtois shot second for Anaheim but Jones stopped him with an outstretched toe.

Kevin Labanc shot third and, though he tripped over Gibson’s skate, he still got the puck in the net.

The Sharks next play on Saturday, in Anaheim again, against the Ducks at 7:00 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Bolts first period 3 goal rally seals win over Preds 5-2; Bruins score four times in 3rd period for win; plus more;

The Nashville Predators left winger Filip Forsberg (9) take a shot at net but the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) gets a quick glove save in the third period of Mon Feb 1, 2021’s game in Tampa Bay (AP News photo)

NHL podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh:

#1 The Tampa Bay Lightning (5-1-1) wasted no time getting on the scoreboard to defeat the Nashville Predators (4-5-0) on Monday night 5-2. The Lightning scored three times in the first period and Nashville goalie Juuse Saros took the loss facing 25 shots and saving 21.

#2 The Boston Bruins (6-1-2) down 3-1 to the Washington Capitals (6-1-3) in the third period erased the Caps lead scoring four goals to surpass Washington to get a 5-3 win at Capital One Center in DC.

#3 The Montreal Canadiens (6-1-2) are a machine after taking their first regulation loss of the season on Saturday to the Calgary Flames. The Habs got a big victory over the Vancouver Canucks (6-6-0) 6-2 at the Bell Center in Montreal. The Canadiens scored three times in each of the first and second periods.

#4 The Pittsburgh Penguins (5-4-1) and New York Rangers (3-4-2) tied in a 1-1 deadlock the Rangers were able to get two key goals in the third period and come up with a two goal win over the Penguins. Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin scored a goal each for the Rangers in the third period for the 3-1 win.

#5 The Calgary Flames down 2-1 against the Winnipeg Jets going into the third period scored twice with Johnny Gaudreau and Andrew Mangiapane scoring a goal each to force an overtime shootout. In the shootout the Flames got two goals and the Jets one for the Flames 4-3 win.

Join Mary Lisa for the NHL podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh Tue Feb 2, 2021 by Sports Radio Service | Free Listening on SoundCloud

 

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Caps’ Ovechkin goal puts him 7th on all-time list; Habs lose first game in regulation; plus more

The Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin (8) takes the puck up ice against the Boston Bruins Brandon Carlo (25) in the first period at the Capital One Center in DC on Saturday, January 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Len, just an amazing career for the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin. who scored an overtime goal on Saturday night at Capital One Arena to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3. The goal also put Ovechkin in seventh place on the all-time NHL goal list at 708.

#2 You can’t push the Montreal Canadiens around too much. The Habs have lost in a regulation all season until Saturday night against the Calgary Flames. The Flames, who won 2-0, did it with the help of goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who stopped 37 saves. The Canadiens just couldn’t find the back of the net all game long.

#3  If you like the numbers 4 and 1, this was your game. The Dallas Stars (4-1-0) met their match on Saturday losing for the first time this season to the Carolina Hurricanes (4-1-0) 4-1. The Hurricanes got scoring help from Vincent Trocheck, who scored twice.

#4 The Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl passed a tipped in pass to Conner McDavid, who scored one of two. McDavid scores as the Oilers came away with a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada. Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen stopped 26 Leafs shots.

#5 Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in overtime at 2:27 for the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Pens’ Pierre-Oliver Joseph had three assists in the effort. One piece of bad news for the Penguins: They lost defenceman Kris Letang in the first period at 10:37 for the rest of the game.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts every Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro Sun Jan 31, 2021 by Sports Radio Service | Free Listening on SoundCloud

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: San Jose-Vegas series postponed due to Covid 19;

The Gala River Arena in Glendale what was going to be the season home opener site for the San Jose Sharks for Feb 1 and 3 has been postponed due to Covid 19 protocols issues from the Vegas Knights who were supposed to be the Sharks opponents for the two game series (Arizona Sports file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks series has been postponed for Feb 1 and 3 due to the Knight head coach Peter DeBoer; assistants Ryan Craig, Ryan McGill and Steve Spott; goaltending coach Mike Rosati; and video coach Tommy Cruz due to Covid-19 protocols.

#2 The Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon and AHL Henderson coaching staff assisted McCrimmon on Tuesday against the St Louis Blues in a game that turned into a 5-4 shootout loss for the Knights without their first string coaching staff.

#3 The Knights Alex Pietrangelo and another member of the Knight coaching staff also entered quarantine for Covid-19 protocols.

#4 Matt this was supposed to be a home away from home series for the Sharks opening up their season home opener in Glendale after such a long road trip while it’s awkward the Sharks were looking forward to playing the series but will really have a home opener in San Jose now against the Anaheim Ducks after they finish road games in Anaheim and Los Angeles.

#5 In other NHL news I wanted to see if you could give us an update on Los Angeles Kings defenceman Matt Roy who was pushed into the boards after chasing down a puck with the Minnesota Wild’s Kevin Fiala right behind Roy during Thu Jan 28th’s game in LA. Roy went down after his head hit the boards with such force. Consequently Fiala was fined over $77,000 and suspended without pay for three games.

Join Matt each week for the NHL podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks-Golden Knights Games Postponed Due to COVID Protocol

The Vegas Golden Knights Max Pacioretty scored his third goal against the St Louis Blues in the third period on Tue Jan 26, 2021 in Las Vegas. The Knights were without their head coach and assistant coaches due to Covid 19 protocols during this game (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were scheduled to play their first (home away from) home games at Gila Arena in Glendale, Arizona next week. The games have been postponed because their opponent, the Vegas Golden Knights, are unable to play due to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Four members of the team, including a player and three coaches, are in isolation.

Last Tuesday, the Golden Knights played the St. Louis Blues without their regular coaching staff behind the bench, as they were already in isolation. Instead, the team was coached by General Manager Kelly McCrimmon. The assistant coaching staff was replaced by their AHL affiliate’s coaches: Manny Viveiros, Joel Ward and Jamie Heward. Two days later, the team’s games started being rescheduled.

Since the season started, nine NHL games have been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 protocols. The Dallas Stars and the Carolina Hurricanes preceded the Golden Knights in the schedule shuffling.

At this time, the Sharks-Golden Knights games are expected to take place in the SAP Center in San Jose, some time after the Sharks’ scheduled return on February 13. The next Sharks game on the schedule is on February 5 against the Ducks in Anaheim at 7:00 PM PT.

Sharks Shut Out 3-0 by Avalanche

By Mary Walsh

The Sharks fell 3-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Thursday. Goals came from Nazem Kadri (2) and Andre Burakovsky. Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the win. Sharks goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves in the loss. It was the first time the Sharks were shut out this season.

If there was a lost opportunity in the game, it was the Sharks’ three first period power plays. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“First of all, we’re losing draws on the power play, so we’re chasing pucks down the ice. Then, we get in, we get set up, we get a shot and, you know, no retrieval. They get it back down. So now you’ve gone up and down the ice twice and you don’t have any gas. We gotta win more draws on the power play. They sniffed out a couple of our entries, we made a change between the first and second but we never got to use it, we never had a power play after that.”

Of the Sharks’ defensive game, goaltender Devan Dubnyk said: “I thought the guys played great, honestly. I thought we made very, very good adjustments from last game. We got a little bit away from it in the third I think when they got the two. But if you look at the adjustments that we made in the first two periods it was huge, and that’s how we have to play that team to be successful.”

The first period was close in shots (7-6 Sharks) but less balanced in other respects. The Avalanche dominated in the face-off circle at 59%, and also in penalty minutes, taking three penalties to the Sharks’ one. Colorado had one shot in their power play, and the Sharks had two in three tries.

The second period saw the shot count tip to Colorado, 12-6. The Sharks took two penalties in the period and had no power plays. The Sharks improved in the face-off circle to 50%.

After five shots off the post, Colorado finally broke through in the third period. Nazem Kadri scored at 9:55. The Sharks had just finished two good offensive pushes and had just changed lines. Colorado converged in the slot and, with Joonas Donskoi down and five bodies in front of Dubnyk, Kadri found himself outside the scramble with a view of an open net corner. Assists went to Brandon Saad and Donskoi.

Moments later, Logan Couture and Brent Burns collided in front of their net, both in pursuit of the same Colorado player. Couture’s skate made contact with Burns’ ankle and he seemed to be in distress on the bench. A few minutes later Burns could still be seen trying to walk it off. He missed a shift or so before getting back on the ice.

Colorado scored again at 11:53 on a three-on-two. Drawing the Sharks to the right, Kadri made a pass across the center to Andre Burakovsky who had just arrived at the net, ready for a deflection. Assists went to Kadri and Saad.

The Sharks had a power play in the final four minutes but couldn’t score, though they pulled Dubnyk for an extra skater and did manage two shots. Then they found themselves killing a penalty with just 1:14 to go after Noah Gregor was called for tripping Gabriel Landeskog. With six seconds left in the period, Nazem Kadri tipped Cale Makar’s shot from the blue line. Assists went to Makar and Nathan MacKinnon.

Colorado’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare left the game in the first period, with a lower body injury. He was injured after Ryan Donato lost an edge and collided with him.

The Sharks are scheduled to play on Monday. They will be in their temporary home arena in Arizona, playing the Vegas Golden Knights at 6:00 PM PT. There is some doubt about that schedule as the Golden Knights may not play due to COVID-19 exposure.

Avalanche Bury Sharks in 7-3 Win

The Colorado Avalanche’s center Nathan MacKinnon (29) gets past the San Jose Sharks Mario Ferraro (38) to put the puck on net and Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (1) in the first period of Tue Jan 26, 2021 game at the Ball Center in Denver (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 7-3 to the high-powered Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. The Avalanche goals were scored by Valeri Nichushkin, Brandon Saad (2), Joonas Donskoi, Mikko Rantanen, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard. Their goaltender, Philipp Grubauer, made 27 saves for the win. Sharks goals came from Noah Gregor, Ryan Donato and Logan Couture. Martin Jones made 14 saves on 19 shots before being replaced by Devan Dubnyk, who made 21 saves for San Jose.

Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner described the moment he thought the game really started to unravel for his team:

“The most disappointing thing for me was, you know, okay it’s three-one after the first period, we had a good eight, nine minutes and we’re still in the hockey game and then we start on the power play. We turn one over, they go down and get a breakaway. Our next unit comes on, turns one over, it’s in the back of our net, it’s four one. Obviously, that’s when the game opens up a bit and we paid the price for it. You can’t open up against these guys and you can’t mis-manage pucks and that’s exactly what we did.”

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said:

“They played a good game today and we did not. I think we started okay but we still defended a lot, even though we got the first goal. I don’t think that was anything we really created. We got a good puck bounce. I think that once they started rolling, we became a little passive and we gave them a little too much room and, you know, we started doubting ourselves a bit. And that’s probably why the game ran away from us against a good team like this.”

The Sharks scored first, a double-tap from Ryan Donato at 10:39. He brought the puck up from the goal line and tried to shoot it through two defenders but it hit a couple of legs. He found it as it bounced and nudged it in for his third of the season. Assists went to Kevin Labanc and Logan Couture.

Colorado tied it up at 16:15. Valeri Nichushkin carried the puck down around behind the net and then sent it back to the blue line for a shot by Erik Johnson. Joonas Donskoi skated across in front of Martin Jones just as the shot came in and the puck hit him on the way in. Assists went to Johnson and Nichushkin.

The Avalanche took the lead less that a minute later. Cale Makar put the puck into traffic in front of Martin Jones and Brandon Saad knocked it in. Assists went to Makar and Andre Burakovsky.

Piling it on, Colorado scored a power play goal in the final minute of play. Nikolai Knyzhov was in the box for hooking against Tyson Jost. The Sharks penalty kill held off the Colorado power play for almost a minute before Mikko Rantanen scored with a hard shot from above the face-off circle. Assists went to Nathan MacKinnon and Makar.

At the end of the first, Colorado led in shots 16-9 and the Sharks had a slight lead in face-off wins of 52%.

The Avalanche kept rolling. The Sharks had an early power play in the second period, but half way through it, Valeri Nichushkin snatched the puck in the neutral zone and took it the other way for a short-handed goal.

Samuel Girard scored a few minutes later with a shot through what looked like all available skaters on the ice. Assists went to Tyson Jost and Kiefer Sherwood.

Devan Dubnyk came in to relieve Martin Jones in the Sharks net. After the game, Bob Boughner said: “I think both goalies were left out to dry multiple times tonight. It’s tough to make a goalie evaluation, I think that, you know, some of the plays that they made through the seam, and we actually made some saves on it, they scored on I think it was the second or third one. But you can’t allow seam plays.”

The Sharks’ third line showed some jump and scored one at 7:44. Some quick passes got the puck to the net just as Noah Gregor got there to tuck it in with a backhand. Assists went to Dylan Gambrell and Timo Meier.

Near the 13:00 mark, Devan Dubnyk got tangled up with J.T. Compher. He took some time to recover but did not leave the game.

The Avalanche resumed scoring at 13:30 when Devon Toews scored Colorado’s sixth of the night. Towes took a shot from the blue line that did not go in. Toews took another shot, this time into an empty net while Dubnyk was tangled up with another Colorado forward. Assists went to Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar.

Brandon Saad scored his second of the night at 15:01. Johnson, Kadri and Saad entered the zone and got around everyone but Vlasic and in a brief two-on-one, scored the team’s seventh.

The Sharks were outshot in the second 13-6.

Logan Couture got one back for San Jose at 12:43 of the third period. Kevin Labanc made a cross-ice pass to Donato as they entered the zone with Couture between them. Donato moved it back to the middle as they closed on the net and Couture tipped it in. Assists went to Donato and Labanc.

The only stat that favored the Sharks Tuesday was their face-off win percentage, finishing with 53%.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 6:00 PM PT, against the Avalanche in Colorado again.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: San Jose faces Aves for two in Colorado starts tonite

Gabriel Landeskog (92) scores for the Colorado Avalanche in overtime against Anaheim for the game winner over the Ducks. The Avalanche will host the San Jose Sharks tonight at Ball Arena in Denver (AP News photo0

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh:

#1 The San Jose Sharks defenceman Brent Burns got a key goal in the third period that broke a 3-3 tie against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. The Sharks Matt Nieto also added an empty netter to an eventual 5-3 win in Minnesota.

#2 The Sharks also got scoring contribution during the back and forth game from Ryan Danato, Evander Kane, and Noah Gregor. It was an all team effort to get the win on Sunday.

#3 The Wild’s Kevin Fiala tied the game up in the third period four seconds into a power play at 7:20. The Wild who were down 3-1 saw Zach Parise and Nick Bjugstad add a goal each as the Wild came back to tie the game.

#4 Brent Burns made some NHL history scoring his 40th game winning goal making him the eighth defenceman in NHL history to do it.

#5 Coming up the Sharks play tonight in Colorado against the Avalanche and again on Thursday night both games are 6pm face offs.

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com