San Jose, CA (Best E Casino) - T.J. Hensick scored the go-ahead goal, and the
Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1, at HP Pavilion.
Ben Guite and Jeff Finger also scored for the Avalanche, who have won two of three. Brett Clark had two assists, and Jose Theodore made 30 saves in the win for Colorado, which is a point behind Minnesota for first place in a tightly-packed Northwest Division.
"We're trying to get points right now," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "Everyday you're looking at the standings and you're trying to fight to stay in the race or try to move up in our division so these were an important valuable two."
Patrick Marleau scored the only goal for San Jose, which had a three-game home winning streak snapped. Evgeni Nabokov turned away 22-of-24 shots for San Jose, which has lost two of three and is four points behind Dallas for first place in the Pacific Division.
"We had some guys in the first period who didn't come ready to play...allowed a team like that to get a lead," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "Scoring first in this league is huge. When we got going in the second period we could never get ahead of them."
Guite opened the scoring a little past the midway point of the first period, as his shot from above the right circle hit Nabokov's glove, then the crossbar, and deflected into the net.
Marleau drew the Sharks even at the 5:53 point of the second period, slamming home a rebound from inside the right circle on a Sharks power play.
But nearly seven minutes later, Hensick put Colorado back in front while on the power play. Clark blasted in a shot from the point, and Hensick, who was in the slot, just nicked the puck with the tip of his stick, and the disc redirected past Nabokov.
San Jose had 11 shots in the third period, but Theodore turned them all aside. The Sharks pulled Nabokov for one last offensive rush, but didn't coordinate it very well and, despite looking frantic, never got many scoring opportunities.
Finger intercepted a pass with a few seconds left, and scored on an empty net with 0.6 on the clock to seal the game.
Game Notes
The teams were a combined 2-for-7 on power play opportunities...The Sharks are 1-1 on their current four-game home stand, and host Columbus on Friday.
