In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche sported their finery on Friday night and defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks, 3-0.
The Avs snapped a three-game skid with Philipp Grubauer making 21 saves,
“Obviously, the first period I was a little rusty,” Grubauer said. “Practices are limited too, so it was tough for me in the first, it got better in the second, and the third I felt back to 100 percent normal.”
It was his first game since 12 April.
Mikko Rantanen also returned to the lineup and had a goal and three points in the game.
The Avs went 2-for-4 on the power play.
“Special teams were outstanding,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. “I would say 5-on-5 I liked our checking. We were skating, we were getting back in the zone, our breakouts were really good, and we didn’t spend a lot of time (in the defensive zone).”
Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar scored in the first period for a 2-0 lead.
“We were able to get some pucks to the net, and I thought we were getting good chances even on the other power plays,” Makar said. “I think we’re just going to have to keep playing to our strengths, especially on the power play against these guys and try to expose them in areas they’re not ready for.”
Martin Jones made 33 saves in the loss.
“They’re a good hockey team,” Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said. “Grubauer made some big saves at the right time. We can probably generate more offense. We have a lot of young guys playing in the lineup that haven’t played together. We battled hard tonight. We’re playing one of the best teams in the League. I don’t think we got outplayed badly or anything like that, we just couldn’t find the goal we needed.”
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