Sharks stop Avs

The Colorado Avalanche finished the regular season with a disappointing 5-2 loss to the Sharks in San Jose on Saturday.

The loss dropped the Avs to the second wild card in the west.

“It’s disappointing, everybody wanted to win,” Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole said. “I think everyone probably could have been a little more focused, but for the most part, it really doesn’t matter. We’re moving on and getting ready for the playoffs. The quicker we can put this one behind us and get back to our good habits and details that we’ve had the last month, the better off we’ll be.”

Evander Kane, Gustav Nyquist and Brent Burns picked up two-point games with a goal and assist apiece.

“Any time you get (101) points, it’s a good year. It’s a lot of work we put in,” said Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer, who won his 400th NHL game. “It’s been a tough last month with some of the injuries and adversity that we’ve had, but I think when I look at the whole season, we put in a lot of work and it’s a big accomplishment. All that work really is just to get a ticket to play next week.”

Martin Jones made 28 saves in the win.

Tyson Jost and Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avs.

Kevin Labanc scored the game-winner in the second period.

Micheal Haley added an empty-net goal late to seal the win.

[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Sharks highlights]

Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves in the loss.

“I didn’t think the game was played with a real high intensity level (with) both teams knowing where they sit,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar  said after the game. “I liked our energy and the way we skated, but I look at every goal (and) we made a mistake on every goal starting with [Semyon Varlamov] on the first one, and then we had some puck plays and decision making that wasn’t quite sharp. I guess that’s to be expected. Our habits were pretty good. We checked and did some good things. The season’s over, we got out of it healthy, which is very important, and now we’re moving on and we’ll shift our focus to the playoffs.”

The Sharks’ Erik Karlsson returned to the lineup from injury.

“I thought he looked good for not playing in a long time,” DeBoer said. “He handled pucks, he didn’t look real rusty with the puck. His legs felt good, so I thought it was a good step. It was nice to get him in there. Even a rusty Erik Karlsson is still a pretty good player.”