The Sharks looked great through the first two periods, but blew their lead as the Avalanche came back to win 5-4 in overtime.
For the first two periods, San Jose looked like they were in control and on track to win this one. About three minutes into the start of this game, Evander Kane scores his first goal of the contest to get the Sharks on the scoreboard first. The Avalanche answered back shortly after on Mikko Rantanen's 29th goal of the season to tie it at one.
Team Teal added two more goals in the second period, starting with one from Tomas Hertl on the backhand for his 17th of the season. The next one came about six minutes later on Evander Kane's second goal of the contest and team-leading 22nd goal of the season, which was scored on a breakaway opportunity. Assisting on Evander's second goal of the game were Tomas Hertl and Alex Barabanov.
The third period was when the momentum suddenly shifted in the other direction, away from the Sharks. Early in the period, Valeri Nichushkin scored to get the Avalanche within one. On that specific play, there was also an interference by Tyson Jost on Logan Couture that the officials somehow didn't see. The Sharks answered back on Timo Meier breaking his scoring drought for his tenth goal of the season, getting assists from Brent Burns and Mario Ferraro. Timo has regressed this season in terms of his on-ice performance, but he certainly looked more like himself against the Avalanche Monday night. However, the Avalanche added two more goals from Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri to tie it at four to force overtime.
It only took 41 seconds into overtime for the Avs to complete their comeback on the stick of Andre Burakovsky to win 5-4 in a game that the Sharks had in their hands and should've held on to win. It was also one of a few soft goals in this game by the Avalanche that Martin Jones let past him.
With their disappointing loss to the Avalanche Monday night and the Blues' victory over the Ducks, the Sharks are now officially eliminated from playoff contention. We all saw this coming with this Sharks team sooner or later. Team Teal has four games left in its 2021 campaign, which are for pride at this point. In addition, Martin Jones should be done for the season and the younger players should get more opportunities in these last four games to determine whether to keep them around on the roster for next season or not.
The Sharks' last of four straight against the Avalanche is Wednesday at 6:30 pm PT and will be nationally televised on NBCSN.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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