DENVER –- Playing their ninth road game out of 11 after the All-Star break, the Sharks were anxious to get home after Wednesday night’s match in Denver.
“I don’t even know what my house looks like anymore, to be honest,” quipped Joel Ward.
That desire to return to California, and the fatigue that has likely been snowballing during a brutal couple weeks of crisscrossing the nation and changing time zones, showed a bit in the Sharks’ game. They were on their heels for lengthy stretches throughout the three periods against a Colorado club that is among the NHL’s worst in terms of advanced possession stats.
Still, they found a way to get a valuable point, thanks to Ward’s late game-tying goal, and nearly stole a second point in overtime. Joonas Donskoi and Brent Burns both had breakaways during the three-on-three competition, but they couldn’t squeeze the puck past Calvin Pickard.
Although Colorado seized that second point in the skills competition, the Sharks finished their latest tough trip with a 3-1-1 mark, and seven of a possible 10 points.
That’s not bad. Not bad at all.
“Yeah, it’s a good trip,” Pete DeBoer said. “I mean, 3-1-1 on this trip with some of the cities we’re in and how desperate the teams are we’re playing, it’s a good road trip. Tonight’s a tough game. Fifth game at the end of 10 nights on the road and guys found a way to get [a point], and that’s important.”
[KURZ: Instant Replay: Sharks hit late by Avalanche, fall in shootout]
Joe Pavelski said: “You need the points whenever you can get them. Tonight, it was definitely a big point.”
The Sharks’ first goal all season with the goalie pulled came after Ward got position in front of the net. He poked a Joe Thornton pass through Pickard with 1:31 left in regulation.
Prior to that, though, San Jose struggled at times to keep up with the speedy Avalanche, especially in the first period. They were fortunate to escape that opening frame with a 1-1 tie.
The goal came from newcomer Nick Spaling, who went high over Pickard on a shot between Andrew Bodnarchuk’s legs.
“Nice to be able to get on the board early,” said Spaling, who scored just his second goal this season. “It was a tough game tonight, I think it was back and forth. It would have been nice to get the two points, but I think we battled to get the one.”
Spaling was promoted to the Sharks’ second line in the middle frame in place of Matt Nieto, but DeBoer mixed all four lines up for most of the rest of the game, trying to jolt his players that he knew didn’t have full energy tanks.
“We were looking for some spark,” DeBoer said. “I didn’t think through two periods we hadn’t generated a lot. We hadn’t gotten a lot of zone time.”
Pavelski said: “There were times I think they had a little momentum going. Times we had it. It was a pretty evenly matched game.”
[KURZ: Long time Sharks defenseman Hannan retires]
The Sharks continued to battle after falling behind for the first time, 3-2, on third period goals by Jarome Iginla and Gabriel Landeskog. That response was the most encouraging aspect of the night, and something that’s becoming routine with a club that seems to have a special type of resiliency.
“We haven’t [packed it in] all year,” DeBoer said. “There was no panic on the bench, no feeling sorry for yourself. We felt confident we could tie it up and had a couple Grade A chances in overtime to win it. That’s just how it goes.”
Despite all of their road success – San Jose went a combined 12-2-2 on its three longest trips of the season – the Sharks are glad to have the most difficult parts of their schedule behind them. They will play 15 of their final 23 games at SAP Center, won't play more than two in a row on the road for the rest of the year, and have just two more road games not in the Pacific Division.
“It feels like the end of the season here is right around the corner. We haven’t been home in awhile,” Pavelski said.
Ward said: “We’ve been playing better in our own barn, so it’s good to see if we can capitalize on those opportunities coming up here. We still have got a lot of hockey left. We play a lot of games every other day, I think, but the good thing about it is we’re at home.”
