The San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche feature two high-powered offenses and up until now the series has reflected it. Game 4 on Thursday was a far more defensive-minded contest though and in the end it was the Avalanche that edged out with a 3-0 final to even the series.
The first half of the game went by without a single goal. The Sharks and Avalanche were largely even in play as well on the scoresheet to that point, but Nathan MacKinnon finally gave Colorado an edge at 10:34 of the second period. Appropriately for this game, the goal was the result of persistence. MacKinnon tried to whack a rebound twice before it finally got by Sharks goaltender Martin Jones.
Special teams also worked in the Avalanche’s favor. They successfully killed two San Jose power plays, including one that trickled into the start of the third period. Meanwhile, Colin Wilson scored a power-play goal at 3:11 of the third to give Colorado some breathing room. At 18:51, Erik Johnson fired a shot from the other end of the ice that went into the empty net to push the game to 3-0.
Certainly Jones had a rough regular season and he’s struggled at times during the 2019 playoffs, but this loss wasn’t his fault. Neither of the Avalanche’s goals on him made him look bad and Jones also made some big saves. Philipp Grubauer really stepped up Thursday night though, stopping 32 shots.
Obviously, the Sharks couldn’t do enough offensively, but their penalty problems in the third certainly didn’t help. San Jose was assessed four minor penalties in the third period. At one point in the middle of the period, the Sharks were briefly down two men. It’s hard to turn a game around when you’re spending so much time shorthanded.
This is the second time San Jose has been shutout in the 2019 playoffs. The last time came in Game 4 against Vegas, which put the Golden Knights up 3-1 in that series. The Sharks aren’t in as much trouble in this series, but they can nevertheless take comfort in the fact that they bounced right back with a 5-2 win against Vegas in Game 5.
Avalanche-Sharks Game 5 from SAP Center will be Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN
—
Ryan Dadoun is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @RyanDadoun.