San Jose Sharks Pick Up Shootout Win Against Avalanche
The San Jose Sharks defeated the Colorado Avalanche by the final score of 3-2 in the shootout. Both goaltenders were outstanding as both Antti Niemi and Semyon Varlamov made multiple fantastic saves to keep their teams in this game, and eventually forced it to a shootout.
In the first period the San Jose Sharks were the better team and were able to come out of it with a 1-0 lead, though it easily could have been more. They were buzzing in the offensive zone all period peppering the net with 23 shots on target along with a Tomas Hertl empty-net chance where he fired the puck off the crossbar.
The Sharks did score though and that came off of Brent Burns who was wreaking havoc in front of the net as usual. The shot, which was fired by Mirco Mueller from the point, was almost the rookie’s first goal of the season and was originally scored as such until it was changed during the intermission.
Things were much of the same for the San Jose Sharks in the second period as they once again dominated puck possession and chances. This time they dominated 18-9 on the shot clock and after two periods had 41 shots on target. Those weren’t perimeter shots either, as many were brilliant scoring chances turned away by Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov’s stout goaltending finally paid off as his Avalanche finally got onto the scoreboard when Alex Tanguay scored a short-handed goal during San Jose’s second power play of the night.
The goal came as a result of some misplayed pucks, first at the Colorado blue line by Patrick Marleau followed by one by Burns at the defensive blue line. From there Tanguay just had to beat Logan Couture who was the lone man back defensively, then he showed off his great hands by out-waiting Antti Niemi before snapping the shot home to tie to the game at one apiece.
In the third period the scoring picked up just a bit with the Avalanche scoring quickly to take a 2-1 lead on a goal by captain Gabriel Landeskog. The goal came on a simple shot that was one Niemi would definitely have liked back as it looked like the San Jose goaltender just misplayed his angle.
A few minutes later though the San Jose Sharks struck back on their first shot of the period –about five minutes in — when Logan Couture scored on a rebound. The original shot came from Justin Braun that he fired off the post as he joined the rush on the play from his normal defensive position.
And, while Niemi gave up quite the softie to Landeskog for Colorado’s second goal of the game, he saved his best for the third period and made a few fantastic saves to keep the score tied and eventually on to overtime.
In that overtime Niemi was even better and once again was great as his Sharks were faced with a 4-on-3 penalty kill for the final minute of the extra period. He was forced to make four saves while the Sharks put two on Varlamov.
The game would eventually head to a shootout after a blistering pace in the overtime. In that shootout the Sharks scored twice on two opportunities while Niemi once again shut the door. He robbed Matt Duchene to end the game and with that the Sharks took home the 3-2 win. Marleau and Joe Pavelski were the shootout scorers for the Sharks.
It was a great game for the Sharks who have had quite a few games to start this season and are plowing their way through these tough road games and picking up wins in the process. They dominated an Avalanche team at home for a majority of the game and got timely goaltending from Niemi to help seal the deal.
GGS 3 Stars
1. Antti Niemi (31 saves)
2. Semyon Varlamov (49 saves)
3. Logan Couture (1 goal, 6 shots)