Girard Has Goal And 3 Assists To Help Avs Over Sharks, 6-2

DENVER (AP) — Colorado should beryllium struggling without their apical violative player. Instead, they’ve gone connected a goal-scoring tear.

In their 2nd crippled without Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche overcame a dilatory commencement with different beardown violative propulsion to bushed the San Jose Sharks 6-2 connected Saturday night.

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“We played bully without Nate past year, too,” manager Jared Bednar said. “Guys admit the urgency of the concern and guys person been elevating their game.”

Sam Girard led the mode for the Avalanche with a extremity and 3 assists, portion Nazem Kadri had a extremity and an assistance and Alex Newhook scored his archetypal regular-season NHL extremity for Colorado. Darcey Kuemper stopped 28 shots for the Avalanche, who person outscored their past 2 opponents 13-3.

MacKinnon is retired for astir 3 weeks owed to a lower-body injury.

“Guys spell down, different guys request to measurement up and capable the role,” Kadri said. “Life goes on. It’s not similar you tin halt playing if you’ve got an injured team.”

Logan Couture and Alexander Barabanov scored for the Sharks, portion Adin Hill made 25 saves.

San Jose was full again aft manager Bob Boughner and 7 players were reinstated from the NHL COVID-19 protocol database connected Friday. Boughner had not coached since Oct. 28 against Montreal. Assistant John McLean led the squad to a 3-2-1 grounds successful his absence.

“You would similar to person a small spike erstwhile you get immoderate veterans backmost successful the lineup,” Boughner said. “Those guys each played OK for the archetypal fewer shifts but arsenic the crippled went connected you could archer fatigue acceptable in.”

Things started good erstwhile Couture gave the Sharks a 1-0 pb with his sixth extremity conscionable 3:17 into the game. Colorado past got a power-play extremity from Devon Toews to necktie it midway done the archetypal and past took the pb connected Kadri’s 4th extremity of the play with astir six minutes left.

Newhook made it 3-1 astatine with astir 7 minutes near successful the 2nd play and Logan O’Connor’s short-handed extremity 2:55 aboriginal enactment the Avalanche up by three.

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“It feels good,” said Newhook, who scored a extremity successful the playoffs past spring. “Just trying my champion to enactment it location there. (Girard) made a large play, coming down the wall. As soon arsenic I saw him coming down I tried to get open. I knew helium saw maine truthful it was conscionable a substance of clip earlier helium slid it over.”

Alexander Barabanov got San Jose wrong 2 goals erstwhile helium scored astatine 9:02 of the 3rd but Andre Burakovsky and Girard enactment the crippled retired of reach.

WELCOME BACK

Boughner, trainer Ray Tufts and instrumentality manager Mike Aldrich were reinstated from the COVID-19 protocol list, arsenic good arsenic the pursuing 7 Sharks players: Kevin Labanc, Erik Karlsson, Timo Meier, Jake Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. All of them played Saturday, and Meier and Karlsson had assists.

“It’s adversity that we faced with 7 guys going retired with (the coronavirus),” Meier said. “But it’s not an excuse. We’ve got to get backmost and work, enactment adjacent harder astatine times similar that erstwhile you’ve got to travel back.”

ANOTHER ONE DOWN

Colorado mislaid different top-line halfway erstwhile J.T. Compher, who was filling MacKinnon’s spot successful the archetypal line, near the crippled with an upper-body wounded successful the archetypal period.

“Pulled something,” Bednar said of Compher. “Not doing a large close now. I threw him retired there, I didn’t cognize helium was hurt. He skated a loop and came close off. He’ll spot the docs again and spot what’s going on. I don’t cognize the timeline connected that. It could beryllium 2 days oregon it could beryllium overmuch longer.”

NOTES: The Avalanche claimed F Nicolas Aube-Kubel disconnected waivers from Philadelphia. … With the instrumentality of players from the COVID-19 protocol database the Sharks reassigned 7 players to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. … Colorado D Bo Byram was scratched from the lineup.

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