Sharks Game 7 Recap: Avalanche 7, Sharks 3 (1/26/21)

 This was an ugly one. The Avalanche put up a touchdown as they took down the Sharks 7-3 in the first game of this two-game series. 

Despite the way the rest of the game went, the Sharks scored first in the first period on a goal by Ryan Donato off his own rebound. This is Donato's third goal on the season, and he continues to play well for the Sharks, especially since he's usually outside the top six forward group. Donato also tallied an assist on the Sharks' last goal in the third period by Logan Couture. Kevin Labanc and Logan Couture were credited with the assists on the first goal. Labanc also added another assist on the Sharks' last goal of the game by Logan Couture.

Following the first goal later in the first period began a string of five consecutive goals for the Avalanche, the first one by former Shark Joonas Doonskoi. The three goals that Colorado scored to complete the first period were all in a span of three minutes. Things really began to fall apart early in the second period when John Leonard mishandled the puck on the power play, leading to a shorthanded goal by Valeri Nichushkin. After Sam Girard scored the fifth-straight Avalanche goal roughly four minutes later in the second, Martin Jones was pulled from the game and substituted by Devan Dubnyk. Not long after the goalie substitution, the Sharks got one back on Noah Gregor's second goal of the year, with assists from Timo Meier and Dylan Gambrell. Devan Dubnyk then proceeded to give up two more goals later in the second, which consisted of one by Devon Toews and Brandon Saad's second goal of the game. I should mention that Cale Makar tallied three assists in this game, which was a big help to my fantasy team. 

Towards the end of the game, when the Sharks basically had no chance of getting back in it, Team Teal let its frustrations be known to the Avs as tensions rose and things got chippy between the two teams. 

Overall, second periods haven't been kind to the Sharks this season. Both Jones and Dubnyk were left out to dry in this game, with Jones recording 14 saves and Dubnyk recording 21 saves of his own. 

The next and last game of this series is on Thursday at 6 pm PT. I expect the lineup to be shuffled again, but who knows who will and should be starting in net on Thursday. All I know is that the Sharks need to perform better in all areas of the game, especially on defense and while handling the puck, and become more challenging to play against if they were to bounce back from last night's contest, which I believe is very possible. I understand that the Avalanche are extremely talented, firing on all cylinders, and one of the top teams in the NHL, so splitting this current series won't be an easy task. Hope last night's game was just a doozy and not anything more troubling.

On a positive side note, if you haven't already heard, the state of California recently lifted its stay-at-home order for all regions, indicating that the Sharks may return to SAP Center sooner than initially anticipated. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, ESPN