Avalanche center Matt Duchene hurt his left knee on his first shift Saturday against San Jose at the Pepsi Center and will undergo an MRI Sunday.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 47 saves, 20 in the third period, as the Avalanche clinched its first playoff berth since 2009-10 with a 3-2 win and moved into second place in the Central Division by one point (100-99) ahead of Chicago with one game in hand.
"Who would have thought, eh?" coach Patrick Roy said. "It's pretty impressive for our group. Now we're a point ahead of them with a game in hand, which is even better for us, but there's a lot of hockey left for us. It will be interesting to see how things are going to go at the end.
"I certainly would like to give a lot of credit to our players. I'm thankful for the opportunity, but I'm also thankful to them to accept to be part of what we've been trying since the start of the year. They deserve a lot of credit for what they've done for this team. They work hard and they believe in themselves, regardless of if we're losing a player. We've been hit pretty hard lately and our guys have been pretty impressive. It's fun to see this group be as successful as they are."
Duchene's injury put a damper on the accomplishment. He was hurt when he collided with linemate Jamie McGinn 32 seconds into the game and limped off the ice. He leads the team in scoring with a career-high 70 points (23 goals, 47 assists).
"He's playing so well right now," Roy said. "It's not good news for him and it's not good news for us as well, but it's been the way it's been all year. We always try to win hockey games and we're going to have to continue to find ways to win hockey games. I'm always a positive person. I believe that he's going to be back for playoffs."
Center John Mitchell, who missed the previous four games because of a back injury, replaced Duchene on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and McGinn. He scored what proved to be the winning goal on a power play at 6:32 of the second period.
"It's a significant loss for our team if he's out for an extended period of time," Mitchell said of Duchene, "but we've had injuries during the year and we've had plenty of guys come in and step up and fill in roles and we've done OK. That's going to have to happen again, I guess."
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The Avalanche wouldn't have won Saturday without Varlamov, who posted his NHL-high 37th win. The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 20-8 in the third period and 49-22 for the game.
The Avalanche (47-21-6) reached the 100-point plateau for the first time since 2003-04 with eight games to play, six on the road.
"We knew we could clinch and get to the 100-point mark and move ahead of the Blackhawks," said Paul Stastny, who scored a first-period goal. "It's awesome. What happened in the past was tough and wasn't fun all around. We're not satisfied now."
Said Roy: "Our goalie was phenomenal. He made a lot of big saves for us. He was moving well in his crease. In my opinion, it looked pretty easy for him. He made a lot of saves a lot easier than they appeared. (San Jose) is a good team and they shoot from everywhere."
Varlamov has gone 7-1-1 this season when facing 40 or more shots, and he's 6-0-1 when making 40-plus saves. But he credited his teammates, who blocked 25 shots -- five by Andre Benoit and four by Nate Guenin.
"We did a good job," Varlamov said. "I can tell we have been waiting for this moment for the last couple of years. Right now we are all excited, the organization, the boys because after this game we are in a playoff spot finally. I'm sure we will be excited about it. It’s going to be so much fun to play in the playoffs.…
The Sharks had five shots on two power plays in the third period that included a four-on-three advantage after O'Reilly was assessed his first penalty of the season in his 72nd game for playing with a broken stick after a faceoff.
"I can't really describe in words what Varly means to this team, making close to 50 saves," Mitchell said. "For him to stand on his head like that ... he's been doing it all year long. He's certainly something special."
Mitchell gave the Avalanche a 3-1 lead after McGinn took a shot that caromed off the end boards. The puck came to Mitchell, who was on the goal line to goalie Alex Stalock's left when he shot inside the near post for his 10th goal of the season.
The Sharks pulled within 3-2 at 8:35 of the period on a goal by defenseman Dan Boyle, after which Varlamov made one spectacular save after another.
The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Stastny and Cody McLeod.
McLeod broke a 1-1 tie at 10:34 on a shorthanded breakaway after Nick Holden's clear from his end deflected off Boyle's glove at the San Jose blue line. McLeod gained possession and shot the puck between Stalock's legs.
Stastny opened the scoring at 1:33. Gabriel Landeskog won a battle for the puck behind the net and passed to Stastny, who scored with a shot from below the left circle.
The Sharks tied the game at 3:07 with a power-play goal from Joe Pavelski. Joe Thornton got the puck to Pavelski in the slot for a backhand between Varlamov's stick and his right pad.