Avalanche 0 - 4 Sharks
Final
  for this game

Sharks ride power play to win over Avalanche

Jan 27, 2013 - 2:36 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Patrick Marleau scored twice and added an assist as the San Jose Sharks stayed perfect with a 4-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

The Sharks have won all four of their games thus far and have gotten two goals from Marleau in each of those games. San Jose is off to its best start since going 4-0 to open the 2008-09 season while Marleau became the first player to start a season with four straight multi-goal games since Cy Denney did it with the Ottawa Senators in 1917-18.

Joe Thornton posted a goal and an assist, while Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for his first career shutout for San Jose, which has won two on the road and the last two at home.

"The guy is just unbelievable out there," said Thornton about Marleau. "He's in great shape and he loves to score goals. He's always in the right area and it's great to have a guy like him on your team.

Semyon Varlamov was tagged for all four goals on 26 shots for the Avalanche, who had won their past two coming into the game. Jean-Sebastien Giguere played the third period between the pipes and stopped all 17 shots he faced.

The game stayed scoreless until San Jose benefited from a pair of power-play goals.

Ryan O'Byrne was handed two minors for instigating and wearing a face shield during a fight with Brad Stuart and the San Jose power play scored just 29 seconds into the first minor. Joe Pavelski threw a shot on net from the slot that was stopped, but Marleau was at the left side to backhand home the rebound at the 16:09 mark of the first.

Still on the power play, the Sharks took a 2-0 lead. Dan Boyle sent a hard pass from the top of the right circle over to his left for Thornton, who then threw it down to the low right side where Marleau had an easy tap-in with 2:33 to play in the first.

The Sharks continued to use the power play to their advantage in the second period as Thornton got his second of the season during a scrum in front just 2:32 into the frame.

"We have to do a better job of staying out of the box," said Colorado head coach Joe Sacco. "Those two power-play goals in the first period were big and then we gave them more minors to work with. You can't win when you're playing shorthanded all the time."

At the 17:05 mark of the middle session, Matthew Irwin scored the first goal of his career with a blistering slap shot from the left point that beat Varlamov to the short side.

Greiss stopped 11 shots in the third period to finish off the shutout.

Game Notes

Marleau is five goals away from 400 for his career ... San Jose has taken three of four games from Colorado in each of the past two seasons ... San Jose, which went 3-for-6 on the man advantage, has scored 10 times on 24 power play chances this season ... Colorado was 0-for-2 on the power play.






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