San Jose Sharks defenceman Erik Karlsson sits on the bench assisted by the Sharks trainer just before throwing his helmet on the ice and receiving an unsportsmanship like conduct after taking a non call high stick to the mouth against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver Wed Mar 7, 2023 (still photo from NBC Sports and SJ Hockey Now)
By Matthew Harrington
The San Jose Sharks got a glimpse of just how far off from Stanley Cup contention they are Tuesday night in Denver, getting steamrolled by the defending Cup Champion Avalanche 6-0. The Sharks were stifled to just 13 shots, all turned aside by Alexander Georgiev.
Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin had four point nights and six different Avs scored in the rout. Kaapo Kahkonen made 19 saves on 24 shots against Colorado (35-21-6) and James Reimer stopped 18 of 19 in relief playing in back-to-back contests.
The Sharks (19-34-12) opened the game flat, managing only a pair of shots on goal in the first period. They found themselves trailing 3-0 after Cale Makar scored his 14th goal 4:08 into the game. Nathan MacKinnon doubled the lead at the 12:51 mark for his 26th of the year and Mikko Rantanen scored his 42nd on the power play with 2:59 left in the period. Colorado put 19 shots on goal in the period.
San Jose raised its shot total to five shots in the middle period, but again the Avs peppered the Sharks netminders to the tune of 15 shots. Nichushkin scored his 12th of the year just 1:22 into the period on a tip-in, Dennis Malgin made it 5-0 Colorado just 1:23 later and Arturi Lehkonen pitched in his 18th of the year, this one on Reimer who replaced Kahkonen after the Malgin goal.
Reimer finished up the game strong, stopping all nine Avs shots. The damage had already been done and the Sharks wound up committing two misconducts, one on Erik Karlsson and the other on Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the final period. They had 30 penalty minutes in total on the night. Karlsson was hit in the mouth with a high stick by the Avalanche’s Alex Newhook after being attended on the bench by the trainer Karlsson threw his helmet on the ice and said after the game he was disrespected by the officials Gord Dwyer and Corey Syvret for not making the high stick call.
The Sharks face the St. Louis Blues Thursday night in game three of a three game road trip. They’ll return home Saturday to face the Minnesota Wild at SAP Center.
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