Burns, Sharks top Avalanche in Game 1

SAN JOSE --Brent Burns had a goal and three assists for the San Jose Sharks in a 5-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at SAP Center on Friday.

Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist, Marcus Sorensen had two assists, and Martin Jones made 26 saves for the Sharks, who have won four straight games, including three in a row to top the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games in the first round.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is at San Jose on Sunday.
WATCH: [Avalanche vs. Sharks Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]
"It can be tough, obviously, after a Game 7 like that (against the Golden Knights) but we did a great job," Jones said. "We hung in there early in the game and I really liked the job we did in the third. We were grinding them in the O-zone and didn't really give them much."
Gabriel Bourque and Colin Wilson scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Avalanche, who had won four straight. Colorado defeated the Calgary Flames in five games in the first round.
"I thought the first 30 minutes of this hockey game we played really well and we could absolutely have had a couple more (goals)," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "Jones comes up big on [Carl Soderberg with two saves] in the first period, so I feel good about where we're at."

After San Jose killed off a four-minute penalty on Brenden Dillon for high-sticking, Thornton scored on a 2-on-1 with Sorensen to tie it 2-2 at 10:05 of the second period.
"We're playing real well at the start of the second period and we're in some power plays and at 2-1, we don't capitalize on that four-minute power play and then we put one in their pads and it's 2-2," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "So 30 minutes into the game, we're doing a lot of good things and we're 2-2 off of just two quick plays. You hate to see them happen, but mistakes are going to be made. It's the 10 minutes after that I didn't like at the end of the second."

Kevin Labanc made it 3-2 at 16:02 after putting the puck through the legs of Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen and scoring with a wrist shot over Grubauer's left shoulder.
Burns extended the lead to 4-2 with 1:00 remaining in the second when his shot hit Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and deflected in. Thornton's assist on the play was his 100th in the playoffs.
"We kind of felt our groove as the game kind of went on and a big goal by [Labanc], big goal by [Burns] and we just continued to battle," Thornton said.
Timo Meier scored an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left in regulation for the 5-2 final.
"We lost too many races, we didn't get our numbers to the puck, and they started skating in the offensive zone and we just weren't committed enough to stay with it for that 10-minute span (in the second period)," Bednar said.
Bourque gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 2:10 of the first period on a rebound of a shot by Makar, but Gustav Nyquist tied it 1-1 at 14:44 on a rebound of Burns' initial shot.

Rantanen appeared to score at 16:25 of the first, but the Situation Room initiated a video review and overturned the call on the ice after it was determined Rantanen used a distinct kicking motion.
Wilson gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 3:56 of the second period.
"We're in the second round. Guys should be ready to go, and they were," Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. "We did a lot of good things after the first half of the first period and got rewarded for it."

They said it

"We did a lot of good things, and there will be some things we look at, but we've got to find a way to ramp up that physical edge that we had and that skating edge we had. After a week off, we had some guys that just weren't as good as they were last week." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"We're going to have to make some adjustments and we've got to make sure when we're hitting those lows in the game or when they're cranking it on, we're limiting our mistakes. Ultimately, that ended up costing us for five or 10 minutes at the end of the second." -- Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog
"We just outworked them I think. We were winning our battles in the O-zone and in the D-zone, so we just got to stick with it and keep that momentum going for us in the second game." -- Sharks forward Kevin Labanc

Need to know

Burns is the first Sharks defenseman with four points in a playoff game and became their leader in Stanley Cup Playoff points among defensemen with 51, passing Dan Boyle (48). ... Including the playoffs, Colorado is 2-15-6 at SAP Center since the 2008-09 season. ... Sharks forwards Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi each did not play because of an undisclosed injury. ... San Jose is the only team to score at least five goals four times in the 2019 playoffs. ... Teams that take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-7 series have an all-time series record of 472-217 (68.5 percent), including a 5-3 this year.

What's next

Game 2 of Western Conference Second Round at SAP Center on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, SN)