Avalanche 4 - 5 Sharks
Final
  for this game

Sharks rally to defeat Avalanche

Dec 16, 2011 - 7:13 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Logan Couture scored the game-winner with 8:31 remaining, the last of three unanswered goals for the Sharks in their 5-4 victory over the Avalanche.

Trailing 4-2 entering the third, San Jose pulled even with goals by Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski before Couture re-directed Patrick Marleau's shot over Semyon Varlamov's left shoulder for the go-ahead goal.

Antti Niemi kept the Avs off the board the rest of the way and finished with 23 saves to split the home-and-home series and snap the Sharks' three-game slide.

"I think we decided it was our turn to come back. It is a big win for us," Couture said.

Paul Stastny scored twice and assisted on Daniel Winnik's tally, but Colorado fell to 0-8-1 in its last nine road games. Varlamov made 29 saves in defeat.

The Avs, who pulled out a 4-3 shootout win in Denver on Tuesday, scored two power-play goals in the first period to counter Ryane Clowe's early tally, which resulted from a Niemi turnover.

Stastny evened things at 5:51, and Ryan O'Reilly put in a rebound to give the Avs the lead with 10.3 seconds left in the opening stanza.

Michal Handzus tied things again 1:12 into the second, but Stastny put in a backhander 1:49 later, then assisted on Winnik's goal with 1:39 remaining in the second.

Burns started the comeback by knocking in his own rebound seven minutes into the final period, and Pavelski scored 89 seconds later with a putback out front.

Game Notes

Colorado hasn't prevailed as the guest since October 22 at Chicago...San Jose kicked off a six-game homestand Thursday...Colorado is winless in seven straight games at the Shark Tank.






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