Sam Girard had a goal and three assists, Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 in Denver on Saturday night.
Alex Newhook, Logan O’Connor, Devon Toews and Andre Burakovsky also scored, and Darcey Kuemper had 28 saves for Colorado, which lost center J.T. Compher to an upper-body injury in the first period.
Logan Couture and Alexander Barabanov scored and Adin Hill stopped 25 shots for the Sharks.
San Jose got seven players and coach Bob Boughner back from the COVID-19 protocol list on Friday. Boughner had been away from the team since Oct. 30.
The Sharks scored first when Mario Ferrara sent a pass to Couture along the boards by the right circle, and his one-timer from the sharp angle beat Kuemper at 3:17. It was his sixth of the season.
Colorado missed an opportunity on its first power play of the night but cashed in on the second. Girard had the puck near the left circle and backhanded a pass to Toews, who blasted a slapshot past Hill at 10:10. It was his second of the season.
The Avalanche got another one to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Valeri Nichushkin feathered a pass to Kadri as he broke to the net. He deked Hill and slid a backhander past him at 13:55 for his fourth goal of the season.
Newhook made it 3-1 when he got a pass from Girard as he came down the right side, and he went to one knee to beat Hill at 12:38 of the second period. It was his first regular-season NHL goal.
O’Connor padded the lead when he beat Hill with a backhander for a shorthanded goal at 15:33. It was his third of the season.
Barabanov scored a power-play goal at 9:02 of the third, his second of the season, but Burakovsky answered 1:11 later with his fourth.
Girard scored an empty-net goal at 16:37 of the third period, his first of the season.
–Field Level Media