In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche made short work of their game with the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Samuel Girard hit for one goal and added three assists in the Avs 6-2 win.
“The last couple games I’m moving my feet, that’s what I have to do, that’s one of my qualities,” Girard said. “I have to use my feet on the ice and I have to keep doing that for the rest of the season.”
Colorado improved to 6-5-1.
Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves in Colorado win.
has outscored opponents 13-3 in winning its past two games.
Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture were the goal scorers for San Jose.
“There were some guys that looked like they hadn’t played in a long time,” Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said. “You would like to have a little spike when you get some veterans back in the lineup. Those guys all played OK for the first few shifts, but as the game went on you could tell fatigue set in. There were things that were just uncharacteristic.”
Seven players and Boughner returned NHL COVID-19 protocol on Friday.
The Sharks dropped to 7-6-1.
After yielding an early goal to the Sharks, the Avs replied on goals from Devon Toews and Nazem Kadri for a 2-1 lead.
“Luckily, I’ve been getting some fortunate bounces and I’ve been able to find the back of the net,” Kadri said. “As a skilled offensive player, when you see a few [goals] drop early, it gets the momentum going in the right direction. It’s been great, great players I’m playing with and it’s helped me a lot.”
Alex Newhook pushed the lead to 3-1.
“[Girard] made a great play coming down the wall,” Newhook said. “As soon as I saw him coming down, I just tried to get over and he saw me and it was just a matter of time before he slid it over.
“I was excited. It was 2-1 at the time, so that goal was big for our team and kind of gave us some good energy and we were able to build off it and keep going.”
Andre Burakovsky and Logan O’Connor also scored for the Avs.
Girard added an empty-net goal late in the third for the 6-2 final.
“I thought he was great,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of Girard. “He was moving, jumping into the play. One of the best parts of his game, when the puck was moved up the ice to our forwards he was always getting into the right spot. He was a dangerous option off the rush and moving into the offensive zone. His best game that we’ve seen him play in a while.”
Adin Hill made 24 saves in the San Jose loss.
“It’s nice to be back, especially after that tough time,” Timo Meier said. “I think we started off well, we took a lot of penalties and it kind of takes away the momentum. I think overall we didn’t work enough and we played sloppy. That’s what cost us this game and made it an easy night for them.”
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