Sharks eliminated from playoff contention with OT loss to Avalanche

The San Jose Sharks were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on Monday.

Andre Burakovsky scored 41 seconds into overtime after Colorado tied it 4-4 on Nazem Kadri's goal with 3:39 left in the third period.
"It's tough to see the way that game ended," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "I thought we should have been celebrating the two points tonight, for sure."
Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to extend his road point streak to 17 games, and Burakovsky, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist for Colorado (34-12-4), which has won three straight. Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves.
Colorado is second in the eight-team Honda West Division, two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild with a game in hand on each. Minnesota defeated Vegas 6-5 on Monday. The Golden Knights, Avalanche and Wild each have qualified for the playoffs from the division with one berth remaining.
"They knew how big of a game it was because we saw that Minnesota had come back to win in regulation, so we were fighting to stay ahead of them and also to pull within two points of Vegas if we won, so the guys were fired up to get out there for the third period and we believed we could get the job done," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.
Evander Kane scored two goals, Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 26 saves for San Jose (20-26-6), which is 2-9-2 in the past 13 games.

Landeskog brought the Avalanche within 4-3 at 8:59 of the third, shooting glove side, and Kadri tied the game with a shot from a sharp angle for his first goal in 20 games.
"It felt good, for sure," Kadri said. "The time of the game, obviously we needed a goal. The guys kept encouraging me to shoot it and finally one went in."
Burakovsky won it with a shot that trickled in under Jones' glove.
"Mikko changed, so I came on the ice and Cale [Makar] gave me the puck," Burakovsky said. "I'm not sure what happened, but I found a lot of room in the middle of the ice. I don't know if they were changing or what they were doing, but I found some ice and I felt like [Sharks defenseman Brent] Burns was standing pretty low, so I shot. Definitely nice to see it go in.
"It's a really big one. We want to be in first place in the League and I think this was a must-win for us. We talked about it, we needed to come out harder, to leave everything we have on the ice. We just had to find a way to get this done, and we did, so great job by everyone."
Kane gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 3:20 of the first period, skating down the slot after a turnover by Valeri Nichushkin.
Rantanen tied 1-1 at 5:38, converting the rebound of MacKinnon's shot after Landeskog won a face-off in the right circle.

Hertl made it 2-1 at 1:57 of the second period with a backhand after skating around Colorado defenseman Patrik Nemeth, whose attempted breakout pass bounced off the back of Tyson Jost's skate.
Kane increased the lead to 3-1 at 7:47 on a breakaway off an Alexander Barabanov pass after a Landeskog turnover.
Nichushkin cut it to 3-2 at 1:18 of the third period, putting in a loose puck after Burakovsky shot off the crossbar.
"The puck was just laying on the side and I whacked on Nichushkin's stick and he got it, so it was nice to see him get the goal," Burakovsky said.
Timo Meier increased the lead to 4-2 at 3:32 with a shot through a screen from the right circle.
"I thought we played a hard game tonight," Boughner said. "You get a 4-2 lead with eight minutes to go and there were some real good things. We've got guys that are playing hard and no one's cashing in their ticket yet, or no one's taking the easy way out. I'm happy about that."
NOTES:Bednar said goalie Devan Dubnyk tested positive for COVID-19 and will quarantine at his San Jose home for at least two weeks. … MacKinnon has 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) in his streak. … Rantanen has six goals in a five-game goal streak and has scored eight goals in his past eight games. … Grubauer is 15-1-1 in his past 17 games. … Hertl has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past 10 games. … Kane has scored five goals in the past six games and has scored nine points in that span. … San Jose forward Dylan Gambrell played 17:13 after missing three games with a foot injury.