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DENVER (Ticker) -- If their current stretch is considered a measuring stick, the
San Jose Sharks
are standing tall.
Nils Ekman
scored the go-ahead goal just 15 seconds into the third period as the Sharks continued their roll with a 2-1 victory over the
Colorado Avalanche
.
While they didn't have to face superstar
Peter Forsberg
, it was a big win for the Sharks, who defeated Western Conference powers Vancouver and Colorado in consecutive games and host front-running Detroit on Monday.
"It's a big win for us," Sharks center
Mike Ricci
said. "These guys are a great hockey team, obviously. They're a contender for it all. For us, we just played the way we know how to play, stuck it out and battled hard."
Scott Thornton
also scored for the blue-collar Sharks, who are 10-2-1-1 in their last 14 games, enabling them to build an eight-point cushion atop the Pacific Division.
"Since the beginning of training camp on, we've really worked on special teams, goals-against and defensive coverage," Thornton said. "Everybody has really bought into our system and the guys believe in each other."
The Sharks went 1-for-4 with the man advantage and allowed one goal on Colorado's six power plays. They were outshot, 33-24.
San Jose can credit its goaltending.
Vesa Toskala
and
Evgeni Nabokov
began the night with goals-against averages of 1.94 and 2.20, and save percentages of .934 and .923, respectively.
"Both goalies are awesome, it doesn't matter who's in there," Ricci said. "Vesa came in and stood on his head and gave us a chance to win. Nabby stood on his head the other night."
Toskala didn't have to deal with Forsberg, who sat out after tweaking a nagging groin problem. Arguably the best two-way player in the world, Forsberg has 36 points in only 22 games.
"It's tough to see Forsberg down again, but we still have lots of depth and scoring on this team, and (goaltender
David Aebischer
) has played so solid for us," said Avalanche right wing
Teemu Selanne
, a former Shark.
Colorado left wing
Alex Tanguay
missed about half of the game while getting X-rays on an undisclosed injury. He returned in the third period.
Rookie defenseman John-Michael Liles scored a power-play goal for Colorado, which had won four consecutive games and earned at least a point in nine straight (8-0-0-1). The Avalanche went three weeks without a regulation loss.
"We've got to keep going," left wing
Steve Konowalchuk
said. "We can't let this set us back. We'll put this one behind us and get ready for the next one."
Liles opened the scoring 8:33 into the first period, but Thornton answered 6:33 later, taking advantage of a funny bounce off the end boards to bang a rebound past Aebischer.
Colorado had a 13-8 edge in shots in the second period but fell behind on the first shift of the third as
Alyn McCauley
forced a turnover in the left corner and tapped the puck to
Alex Korolyuk
.
Korolyuk whistled a pass to the slot, where Ekman one-timed it into the top left corner of the net.
"It was a turnover in our zone and he made a pretty good shot," Aebischer said. "I don't think I could have done much about this one."
"I was lucky, I hit the net," Ekman said. "I wasn't aiming there, I was just trying to hit the puck."
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