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Sharks score three power-play goals to top Avalanche

Jan 16, 2007 - 7:00 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The last thing any team wants to do these days is draw penalties against the San Jose Sharks.

Patrick Marleau had a goal and two assists and Jonathan Cheechoo netted a tally and set up another for the Sharks, who scored all their goals on power plays in a 3-1 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

In winning for the sixth time in seven contests, San Jose has 19 power-play goals in its last seven games. The Sharks recorded their 31st victory to trail the Nashville Predators (32 wins) for tops in the Western Conference.

"We're just trying to move the puck a little faster and trying to keep our feet moving," Cheechoo said. "When you stand still, you're easy to check. They can just hold their box. When we start moving the puck, they have to move their box, and that opens up little lanes where we can get opportunities."

"We came out hard," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We had chances, but our power play was cooking tonight. I haven't seen us move the puck like this. I mean, we've had some great nights on the power play, but our movement tonight was phenomenal."

Last season's Maurice Richard Trophy winner, Cheechoo opened the scoring at 7:03 of the first period by firing a rebound of Marleau's shot past goaltender Peter Budaj for his 16th goal.

"We've been getting pretty good starts," Cheechoo said. "We just haven't been capitalizing on our chances. We scored a couple of rebound goals. I think that was key for us."

Just 2:29 later, Cheechoo returned the favor to Marleau, who slid a rebound between Budaj's pads for his 21st tally of the season - his 11th on a power play.

"That 20 minutes was pretty scary but I think we enhanced making them look like a special team," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "They've got a lot of speed and some skill, and that top line can be a handful as the league saw last year and I think they're dangerous right now."

"They're doing a good job of screening guys," Budaj said. "They're doing a good job driving the net and I think both goals in the first period were jam plays and bounces. I'd make the first save and it would bounce right to their stick and they just pushed it in, and that sometimes stinks."

After captain Joe Sakic halved the deficit with his 19th goal at 7:03 of the third period, reigning Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner Joe Thornton netted his 12th with the man advantage 1:42 later with a wrister from the right faceoff circle.

Netminder Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves in his first victory since December 23 against the Calgary Flames, and raised his record to 12-9-0.

"I'm trying to build on this game and seek focus," Nabokov said. "Give the team a chance to win every game. (The) last three starts wasn't that good. But again, that's hockey. It's happened before. Sometimes, you get those bumps and it's about how you respond to it."

Budaj stopped 39 shots for the Avalanche, who lost for the third time in four games.

"We knew what they were going to do and we didn't adjust," Avalanche defenseman Brett Clark said. "We gave them a few chances and a couple of bounces here and there but we just got outworked by their power play. It's very good. If you give them chances and opportunities, they're going to put it in the net."