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Barrie the difference as Avalanche take Game 2, even series with Sharks

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Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog combine for five points as the Avalanche fend off a late comeback attempt from the Sharks to tie the series at 1-1.

Tyson Barrie is sometimes the forgotten member of the Colorado Avalanche core.

While forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog get most of the attention -- and deservedly so -- for their All-Star level production and consistent offensive dominance, Barrie has quietly been one of the league’s most productive defenders and a huge part of their team for several years now.

He was the difference in Game 2 of their Round 2 series against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

Barrie scored a goal and recorded two assists -- his second three-point game of the postseason -- to help lead the Avalanche to a 4-3 win that tied the series at one game apiece.

He recorded an assist in the second period when Landeskog deflected his shot behind Martin Jones to tie the game, and then gave the Avalanche the lead just eight minutes later with his first goal of the playoffs.

He also picked up an assist on Matt Nieto’s third period goal that extended their lead.

Barrie’s goal came with a little bit of controversy. After the Avalanche dumped the puck into the Sharks’ zone from behind the center red line, it appeared the Sharks had won the race to the face-off dot which should have resulted in an icing call and a face-off at the other end of the ice. Play, however, was allowed continue and after the Avalanche won possession of the puck were able to capitalize with Barrie’s goal.

Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-net goal in the final minute that would prove to be the game-winner after San Jose’s Brent Burns scored a pair of late goals, including one with 10 seconds to play to cut the deficit to one.

But let’s get back to Barrie for a second, because he was tremendous on Sunday.

Along with the offensive production, the Avalanche just seemed to control the pace of the game when he was on the ice. During 5-on-5 play the Avalanche out-chanced the Sharks 15-5 (including 8-1 in “high-danger” chances) with Barrie on the ice (via Natural Stat Trick) and outscored them 3-1.

The Avalanche defense isn’t made up of household names, but it is a rapidly improving group thanks to the emergence of youngsters Sam Girard and Cale Makar to go with the steady production of Barrie. Since becoming a full-time player on the Avalanche blue line at the start of the 2013-14 season, Barrie has scored at least 10 goals in five of the past six seasons, is 10th among all defenders in goals scored, and eighth in total points. It is really difficult to be much better than that. He was at his all-around best on Sunday, and it is probably the biggest reason this series is shifting back to Denver all tied.

Game 3 of Avalanche-Sharks is on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.