SAN JOSE — The look on Cale Makar’s face told the story.
His Colorado Avalanche club is clearly one of the best in the NHL at the start of this season, but it has a boogeyman right now. For the fifth time, an Avs game went beyond the 60 minutes of regulation.
And for the fifth time, the Avs (7-1-5) left the arena with one point, not two. Philipp Kurashev scored his second goal of the game to help the San Jose Sharks knock off the Avalanche, 3-2, in overtime Saturday afternoon at SAP Center.
“I don’t know what it is,” Makar said. “Seems like when the three of us are on the ice right now, it’s always in the back of our net. It’s going to figure itself out, but man, it’s hard to lose every single game like that in overtime, especially when you’re right there and feel like you have a chance.”
The “three of us” Makar was referring to includes Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas. The Avs are now 0-3 in games decided in overtime, and that trio has been on the ice for all three extra-session goals against.
Colorado dominated much of this game, but finished with three points on this two-game road trip instead of four. Mackenzie Blackwood made his first start of the season for the Avs in net. He didn’t have a lot of work early, but finished with 20 saves.
This was the Avalanche’s eighth road game and second straight weekend with back-to-back afternoon contests. The Avs looked like the second-freshest team of the two in the final period and overtime.
“The power plays they got at the start of the third period kind of turned the momentum for them,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “They never went off the gas, and we didn’t do enough in the third to win the hockey game.”
Colorado tied this game midway through the second period with an unconventional goal. MacKinnon had a free look in tight, but Yaroslav Askarov made one of his 37 saves on a backhanded try. The puck was lying in the crease when Sharks forward Jeff Skinner crashed into the right post, knocking the net off its moorings.
Both MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen lunged for the puck, and it crossed the line … into a net that wasn’t there. It wasn’t called a goal at first, but MacKinnon lobbied for it, even smacking his stick off the dislodged net. After a lengthy discussion, the officials called it a good goal, and it was upheld after a review.
“Their guy skated into the net and looked like he basically knocked the net off on purpose,” Bednar said. “It’s just a continuation play. … I was pretty sure that one was going to count.”
The goal was MacKinnon’s 10th, making him the first player to hit double digits this season in the NHL.
For the second straight game since signing an eight-year, $92 million contract, Necas scored on the first shift. The Avs worked the puck around the perimeter like it was a power play and Makar sent it to Necas in the left circle, who turned and snapped a shot through a Lehkonen screen for his ninth goal of the season, 30 seconds in.
It’s also Necas’ 20th goal in 43 regular-season games with the club since arriving in January as part of a blockbuster trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen.
Colorado dominated the start of this game in a manner even atypical for the Avs when they are rolling. The Sharks did not touch the puck on the offensive side of the red line in the first 2:30. The shots were 9-0 and the shot attempts were 14-1 after nearly eight minutes, even though Colorado had taken a penalty.
The Avs were in complete control for large parts of the period, but Sharks phenom Macklin Celebrini evened the score with 1:29 left. Celebrini collected a pass at the top of the circles and fired a wrist shot past a closing Makar and just inside the left post.
It was Celebrini’s seventh goal and 18th point of the season. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL draft had a strong rookie season and appears to be making the superstar leap as a sophomore.
San Jose took the lead on a weird play early in the second period. Kurashev got behind the defense and put one past Blackwood. Devon Toews immediately went over to an official to voice his displeasure — he got tangled up with a Sharks player at the defensive blue line and clearly felt he was interfered with.
The shots on goal when Kurashev scored were 17-10 in favor of the Avs, but 4-2 for the Sharks in the second period. Colorado took over again at the point, outshooting the home team 13-1 over the rest of the middle frame.
The Avs had a few near-misses during that span, but the only goal was MacKinnon’s quirky one.
Taylor Makar made his NHL debut for the Avs, joining his brother, Cale, as the first pair of siblings to play for the franchise since it moved to Denver. The three Stastny brothers — Peter, Anton and Marian — all played for the Quebec Nordiques, including 191 games together as a trio.
Blackwood missed the first 12 games of the season with what he called a lingering issue from past seasons. Scott Wedgewood started 11 of the first 12 games and entered the day with a league-leading seven wins.
“I thought he was pretty good,” Bednar said. “He stood in there in the third period. I don’t know if fatigue was a factor for him, but yeah, we’ve got to get him up and running.”