The Sharks put up a good fight against one of the best teams in the NHL, but the Colorado Avalanche at home were too much for them as they lose the second game of a back-to-back set 4-2.
Despite the less-than-ideal, not-so-surprising end result, there were a few positive takeaways for the Sharks against the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche. San Jose was able to keep the first period scoreless and answer back after the first two goals scored by the Avalanche, but were out of gas after that. The Avs' first goal of the game was scored by Alex Newhook early in the middle frame, and the Sharks answered back in the later half of that period on Timo Meier's career-best 31st goal and 67th point of the season. Timo buried it on a great feed from Tomas Hertl while Hertl was falling down. Alexander Barabanov recorded the second assist on the the first Sharks goal by Timo Meier.
Early in the third, Darren Helm regained the lead for the Avalanche, while Brent Burns tied things back up a few minutes later. In addition, Tomas Hertl collected his second assist of the game. In the second half of the third period, the game begins to slip away for the Sharks as the Avalanche add two more goals via Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky to seal this one. Turnovers, giveaways, penalties, and other mistakes have gotten the best of the Sharks, and the Avalanche have scored the most third period goals out of any team in the NHL. I had anticipated this ugly ending for the Sharks, and although it is disappointing, I can't be too upset about this one.
One of the main aspects keeping the Sharks in this game was Kaapo Kahkonen, who was a brick wall for most of this game and put up a whopping 42 saves in the loss. Kahkonen has been great for the Sharks so far; the team needs to win for him so his impact can truly make a difference.
The Avalanche have completed the three-game season-series sweep of the Sharks, and this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Despite this, the Avalanche are still a very likeable team, and I hope they can make a deep playoff run this year.
Next up, the Sharks return home to face Joe Pavelski and the Dallas Stars on Saturday at 7:30 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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