Spotting yourself a 4-1 lead should be easier than that, right?
The San Jose Sharks certainly made things interesting for themselves, and downright hairy nearing the end of their 5-4 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday Night Hockey.
The Sharks were rolling up to the 16:33 mark of the second period. After Avs forward Matt Calvert tied the game 1-1 in the first, the Sharks rattled off three unanswered as Colorado when into full-blown implode mode.
Something like this:
The Sharks were beneficiaries of some suspect goaltending from Philip Grubauer, who gave up four goals on 14 shots and was pulled after Joonas Donskoi’s goal made it 4-1. That meant rookie Pavel Francouz was sent to the wolves.
Instead, the Czech netminder steadied the ship (after allowing Lukas Radil’s fifth of the season, of course), making 12 of 13 saves to give the Avalanche a shot at a comeback.
And they tried their darndest to end their five-gaming losing streak, which instead extended to six games in the loss.
Tyson Jost scored his first of two goals in the game while the other Tyson, Tyson Barrie, notched one of his own to put the Avalanche to within one.
The game came down to the last second, literally.
Nathan MacKinnon, announced as an NHL All-Star along with fellow forward Mikko Rantanen earlier on Wednesday, had the tying goal on his stick when Martin Jones, who couldn’t make a save to save his life in the third period, made the only one that mattered in the end, shutting the door from point-blank range to preserve the lead.
Colorado’s near-comeback took a bit of the shine away from both Joe Pavelski’s and Brent Burns’ four-point effort. Pavelski’s goal and three assists were paramount for the Sharks, including his third apple on Lukas Radil’s eventual game-winner (which came off a broken play that turned out good in the end).
Burns, meanwhile, had the same stat line, contributing on the first four Sharks goals.
The loss meant a demotion to a wild card spot for the Avalanche, who were overtaken by the victorious Dallas Stars.
San Jose, meanwhile, moved within three points of the Pacific Division summit with the win.
Here’s what Pavelski had to say after this one:
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck