Goalie Semyon Varlamov did his part Tuesday night, keeping the Avalanche in the game while facing a 51-shot onslaught, but it wasn't enough and they dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to San Jose at the Pepsi Center.
"We're leaving Varly out to dry," said left wing Jamie McGinn, who played against his brother, Sharks forward Tye McGinn, for the first time at any level. "It's unacceptable. He stood on his head just like last year, except we pulled out a couple wins and this year we're not doing that. He's battling every night, it's amazing what he's doing back there for us."
No doubt Varlamov stole a point for the Avalanche, even if he didn't stop either of the Sharks two shooters in the shootout -- Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski, the latter of whom had a game-high 10 shots on goal. Then again, Alex Tanguay and Matt Duchene didn't come close to putting a puck behind Sharks goalie Antti Niemi (31 saves) in the first and second round, respectively.
The Sharks have owned the first period this season, outscoring opponents 13-1. They dominated the Avalanche in the first, outshot them 23-8 and took a 1-0 lead that would have been much larger except for the play of Varlamov.
Brent Burns tipped in a shot from rookie Mirco Mueller at 9:23. Burns drove to the net for a shot that Varlamov stopped, but Joe Thornton corralled the rebound, came from behind the net and fed Mueller for a shot from the blue line. Burns was credited with the goal after the game.
The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 19-2 after Burns scored, launching 14 consecutive shots before Gabriel Landeskog forced Niemi to make a stop at 15:21. Niemi made a nice glove save against Duchene, who was in the slot with 1.5 seconds left.
"It's unfortunate," McGinn said. "We said all the right things before the game, we were ready to, but then the Sharks just pounced on us and they were better than us in the first period. Varly gave us a chance to stay in it and win the game. Our second period was better but still not good enough. It's just unacceptable to have that kind of start. It's a big game and we have to start winning games." The Avalanche have one win in the past seven games (1-2-4), have gone to overtime or a shootout in three of past four games and lost all three. They've already permitted 40 or more shots on goal three times, lost one in regulation, one in overtime and one in a shootout.
"(Varlamov) was outstanding, he made some incredible saves, especially in the first where we were struggling a lot," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "After they took a 1-0 lead we just lost our focus. That part of the game was not very pretty for us."
The Avalanche tied the game on Tanguay's shorthanded goal at 13:24 of the second period. Erik Johnson lofted a clearing attempt that Burns tried to knock forward with his glove while standing at his own blue line. The puck landed behind him and Tanguay gained possession. He skated into the slot, stepped around Logan Couture between the circles and found the back of the net.
Tanguay has four goals and two assists in a six-game scoring streak
Colorado took a 2-1 lead at 3:04 of the third period on a goal by Landeskog, who skated into the left circle and beat Niemi low to the far side for his fourth goal, tying Tanguay for the team lead. But the Sharks countered at 5:03 on a Couture goal.
The Avalanche had a power play for the final 1:05 of overtime after Marleau knocked Johnson's stick from his hands with a slash, but they couldn't take advantage.
"It’s frustrating, of course," Varlamov said. "I mean, we have to get those points. We’ve already played 10 games and we want to be in a playoff spot. We started pretty slow (in) the first period but in the second, I thought we played pretty well. We had lots of chances offensively. I think the guys played well. We had lots of chances in overtime we just didn’t score. Niemi played well.…
*****
Roy used numerous line combinations in an attempt to create more offense and the Avalanche did play a lot better in the third period.
Duchene skated with Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly (who matched last season's total for penalty minutes with an interference infraction late in the first period), Nathan MacKinnon (still without a goal) was with McGinn and Jarome Iginla, and John Mitchell centered Tanguay and Max Talbot.
*****
Varlamov's 49 saves were one short of his career best. He had 50 saves in a 6-4 loss in Edmonton on Feb. 16, 2013. He matched his career high for saves in a period with 22 in the first period, one shy of Roy's Avalanche record. "That's incredible," Landeskog said. "Sure it shows how good he is and sure it shows how well he played tonight, but it also showed how we left him hanging and we didn’t play well enough in front of him. That’s unacceptable and that’s something that we have to talk about and something that we have to correct. We’re going to watch video (Wednesday) and see what we did do and what we didn’t do well."
*****
Jamie McGinn on playing against his brother:
"I think I'll look back (Wednesday) on it a little more. Right now it kind of stings. Losing a game, you're never happy after a loss. One of the positives is we got a point out of it. It was a fun game to play against my brother. It was good to see him out there."
Jamie played 14:45 and didn't have a shot on goal. Tye played 9:06 and had one shot.