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SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Patrick Marleau continued to build his case for the Conn Smythe Trophy while the San Jose Sharks continued their quest for a spot in the Western Conference finals.

Marleau had a goal and an assist and Jonathan Cheechoo scored a highlight-reel goal as the Sharks took a two games to none lead in their conference semifinal series with a 4-1 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche .

Two days after posting his second hat trick of the postseason, Marleau snapped a 1-1 tie late in the second period with his league-leading seventh playoff goal. He set up Vincent Damphousse 's power-play tally midway through the period to pull San Jose even.

"I think he's a tremendous player," Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. "He's obviously felt good the last couple of games, skating well, and we have to do a better job (on him) as a team."

"Sometimes in years past, I think I was (streaky)," said Marleau, who has six points in his last three games. "I did fairly well at the start of the season, trying to be consistent, and then towards the end, I wasn't. But I try to focus on being consistent."

With the Sharks on their sixth power play of the game, Cheechoo redirected a pass by defenseman Brad Stuart past goaltender David Aebischer from the edge of the left faceoff circle. Cheechoo had his stick between his legs when he gave San Jose a 3-1 lead at 6:27 of the third.

"It was pretty decent," Cheechoo said. "The 'D' just kind of had his stick on my stick and I had nowhere else to go. ... I just went through my legs. Never tried that before. I try to work on things that I'll actually use in a game, but that one was mainly reaction."

"I told him it was a sick goal," teammate Niko Dimitrakos said. "I told him I used to do that type of stuff like that when I was little, fooling around. You'll never see that in a real game, so it was pretty impressive."

Wayne Primeau added an empty-netter and Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves for the Sharks, who improved to 5-0 at home in the playoffs.

Colorado's Peter Forsberg assisted on a first-period goal by Milan Hejduk to extend his postseason points streak to 13 games.

The Avalanche look to get back in the series Monday when they host Game Three.

"The guys know we are capable of turning the series around," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "We need a good performance on Monday. We've got a lot of work to do."

"We know they're going to bring a higher level and they're going to have the fans behind them, so we've just got to come up and bring our 'A' game, can't take any days off," Cheechoo said.

While in the neutral zone, Forsberg passed to Matthew Barnaby , sending the rugged winger in 2-on-none. After drawing Nabokov to him, Barnaby slid a cross-crease feed to Hejduk, who put it into a vacant net at 7:01 for his fourth playoff goal.

Just 2:10 into the second period, Forsberg appeared to give Colorado a 2-0 lead. But the goal was waved off immediately as the former Hart Trophy winner batted the puck into the net with his glove.

Damphousse redirected a pass from Marleau by Aebischer from the slot at 11:14 to tie it, 1-1.

With 4:58 left, Forsberg had another apparent goal negated. While driving to the net, he barreled into Nabokov before the puck crossed the goal line. The game remained tied and Forsberg was penalized for interference.

"If you don't get any calls, it's tough to play," Forsberg said. "We scored two there and they called it off."

"They're going to do whatever it's going to take, and that's fine," Nabokov said. "It wasn't a cheap shot, it was a game situation and it was also a penalty."

San Jose could not capitalize on the ensuing power play but moved ahead with 24 seconds left in the period. Dimitrakos carried around the net and to the top of the left circle before dishing to Marleau, who waited for Aebischer to commit before slipping in a backhander.

Konowalchuk nearly drew the Avalanche even early in the third, but his shot from the slot rang off the left goalpost.

After Cheechoo made it 3-1, Nabokov stopped Hejduk from the right side with 8 1/2 minutes left and denied Joe Sakic two minutes later.

"They've deserved both games and they had the jump on us," Sakic said. "Games Three and Four, we have to have now. We have to make sure we win our two home games."