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SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The goals keep coming for Patrick Marleau and the wins keep coming for the San Jose Sharks .

Marleau recorded his second hat trick in as many weeks and Niko Dimitrakos collected three assists as the Sharks rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game One of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Marleau scored three times in Game Two of the conference quarterfinals, helping San Jose eliminate the St. Louis Blues in five games. He was shut out in the final three contests of that series but helped the Sharks take a page from Colorado's script with a three-goal first period.

"That is the way that it is going," Marleau said. "I was lucky tonight to get some chances and they went in."

The Avalanche led the NHL with nine first-period goals in the first round of the playoffs but watched San Jose take control early.

"We need a better start," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "We had a chance to take control, but we didn't. They did a good job of killing penalties at the beginning."

"We got the first period we were looking for," Sharks center Vincent Damphousse said. "After a week off, you always want to start good and not be flat. I thought that we started as good as we could."

Marleau was left unchecked in the slot, got a pass from Jonathan Cheechoo and wristed a shot past goaltender David Aebischer just under 11 minutes into the game to put the Sharks ahead.

Damphousse doubled the lead less than two minutes later, weaving past defenseman Adam Foote before beating Aebischer with a wrister from the left faceoff circle.

Defenseman Scott Hannan capped the flurry on the power play at 19:07, scoring off a scramble while teammate Alyn McCauley pinned Aebischer in the crease.

"He got pushed into tme and I could not get back up," Aebischer said. "Not just that goal, tonight we had a lot of confusion in our own end."

Steve Konowalchuk got the Avalanche on the board 9:07 into the second period with a power-play goal, but Marleau restored the Sharks' three-goal lead 2 1/2 minutes later and capped the third playoff hat trick in team history on the power play at 13:13.

"It is unbelievable the way that he is playing," Damphousse said. "We need him to come through like that. He is our leader and our top guy. He has been playing great so far in the playoffs."

The last goal chased Aebischer, who was replaced by Tommy Salo after facing 17 shots.

"The good thing about the playoffs is that it is just one game," Aebischer said. "You lose 1-0, 5-2, it doesn't matter. You start 0-0 the next game."

Game Two is Saturday afternoon at San Jose.

"It is the first game," said Evgeni Nabokov , who made 26 saves. "We have to continue to play the way we did. If I remember, we won the first game a couple of years ago. We just have to be ready for the second game. I am sure that they will come out hard."

Peter Forsberg had the other goal for the Avalanche, tucking the puck between Nabokov's pads during a power play in the opening minute of the third period.

"We weren't ready to match their intensity," said Colorado captain Joe Sakic , whose team has lost Game One in four of its last five series. "They outplayed us, they won every matchup. They deserve everything they got."