The Avalanche hung on to edge San Jose 4-3 Saturday at the Pepsi Center after squandering nearly all of a 4-0 lead.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov secured the win with a save against Avalanche killer Joe Pavelski, who had a clean breakaway on a late third-period power play. Varlamov then stopped Brent Burns' rebound shot.
Nathan MacKinnon connected for two goals to take over the scoring lead among NHL rookies with 26 points as the Avalanche reached the halfway point in the season in third place in the Central Division with a 26-11-4 record and 56 points. The Avalanche has won three games in a row and is 3-0-1 in the first four games of a seven-game homestand.
"We obviously don't want to let them back in the game like that," MacKinnon said after the first two-goal game of his brief NHL career. He has six goals and two assists in the past 10 games.
"They're a team that pushed hard. They came close, but thankfully we hung on to get the win. Varly really bailed us out, like he usually does when we get the win. It was a very intense last couple of minutes but thankfully we managed to hang on.…
MacKinnon's second goal of the game gave the Avalanche a 4-0 lead at 5:59 of the second period. Jamie McGinn, with his third goal in three games, Erik Johnson and MacKinnon scored on consecutive shots in a 66-second span in the period.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan replaced goalie Antti Niemi (three goals on 14 shots) with Alex Stalock after Johnson's shot from the blue line from along the right-wing boards bounced into the net. MacKinnon scored on the first shot Stalock faced; MacKinnon sped down right wing and beat Stalock with a shot to the far side of his net.
"It was 4-0 at that point, so I didn't think it would be the winner," MacKinnon said. "I didn't want it to be the winner, to be honest with you. But we hung in there."
The momentum began to change on the faceoff following MacKinnon's goal. San Jose's Andrew Desjardins speared John Mitchell in the groin and should have been assessed a spearing penalty, which would have resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Instead, Desjardins got off with a minor penalty for slashing.
"Obviously after the non-spearing call we kind of lost our focus and gave them a couple power plays, one was on a delayed (penalty)," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "I'm sure you're going to write something about (the non-spear call)."
Desjardins later said his spear was unintentional. "It was more like you come together and you try to push the hands away and my stick caught him in an unfortunate spot," he said. "Just wanted to be intense and it just happened."
Thirty-seven seconds after Desjardins went to the penalty box, Avalanche center Matt Duchene was given a strange roughing penalty against Logan Couture. Duchene had more than a few choice words for the referee as he made his way to the penalty box.
The Sharks responded with two quick goals. Pavelski scored on a power play and Patrick Marleau, who also had two assists, scored during a delayed penalty.
The Sharks dominated the rest of the period and the third. They outshot the Avalanche 21-6 after MacKinnon scored, and Couture scored at 5:44 of the final period to cut the lead to 4-3.
"This is a very good team, a team with lots of skill," Roy said of the Sharks. "In the third they were pressing and I thought we tried to defend a little too much. We should have tried to press more. I would have loved to see us keep putting pucks at the net."
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Johnson, who has five goals and five assists in the past 10 games, on his weird goal: "That's a nice break. I haven't gotten one of those in a while, so it was really nice to get a break like that. I think even when we were up 4-0 we knew the game was far from over. They're never out of a game no matter what. That's how it happens when you build a big lead. You tend to sit back."
Johnson played a game-high 26:27. He had five shots on goal, four hits and was plus-1.
McGinn scored from just outside the crease. He gained possession after Sharks defensemen Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic failed to control the puck at the side of their net. McGinn has a goal in each of the two games the Avalanche has played this season against his former Sharks teammates "I was fortunate to kind of steal it there and I’m taught from day one when you are in that tight, you have to go upstairs," McGinn said. "I was glad to see it hit the back of the net for sure.…
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Colorado’s 26 wins matches the most it has registered at the halfway point of a season. The Avalanche won 26 of the first 41 games in 2000-01 ... Varlamov has gone 6-0-4 in his past 10 starts ... Gabriel Landeskog had an assist to stretch his point-scoring streak to six games (three goals, four assists) ... Paul Stastny had two assists ... Avalanche players were given Sunday off ... The homestand continues Monday against Calgary.