SAN JOSE, CA. – Perhaps Sharks management will consider a permanent switch to orange. After giving away orange t-shirts to fans at the HP Pavillion ahead of the game, San Jose jumped to an impressive 5-0 victory over Colorado, taking a 3-2 series lead in the process.
After a goal less first period, rookie forward Logan Couture and sophomore Dwight Helminen each grabbed their first play-off goals to help San Jose wrap up a huge win, in what has been an extremely tight series so far.
Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov, starting his 70th play-off game, turned away 28 shots for his seventh post season shut out. Opposite number Craig Anderson, who up until this point had been huge for the Avs, stopped 29 of 33 shots before being replaced by Peter Budaj with a little over 11 minutes remaining.
Couture opened the scoring for the home side, deflecting Dany Heatley’s shot past Anderson. Pavelski doubled the Sharks lead, firing the puck in to an almost open net after the Avalanche puck stopper had lost his footing trying to close down the angle on Dan Boyle by the right face off circle. Remarkable, neither side had led by more than a single goal throughout the series until this point! Helminen put home the rebound from Scott Nichol’s point shot to wrap up a strong 2nd period performance from San Jose.
Patrick Marleau heaped further misery on the visitors before Budaj stepped in, only for Couture to grab his second of the night, stuffing home the rebound after Ryan Clowe’s shot was saved by the Slovak.
Colorado will be disappointed to have lost so heavily, particularly after twice taking the lead in the series. Joe Sacco’s side welcomed Kevin Porter back to the line up, but are without Milan Hejduk and Peter Mueller. It is unlikely Mueller will be back in time for the critical game 6 over the weekend, but Hejduk’s status is unknown. It is hoped the Czech veteran will be fit to play, after leaving last Sunday’s game with an upper body injury following a collision with team mate Paul Stastny.
Contact the author: rob.mcgregor@prohockeynews.com
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