Rate it!

0 votes

Ryane Clowe snapped a run of 21 regular season games without a goal as the San Jose Sharks cooled off the streaking Colorado Avalanche with a 3-1 victory.

Clowe scored San Jose's opener at 19:54 in the second period with his first goal since March 5 and San Jose (9-4-1) held on for a fourth straight win.

Dany Heatley gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead with his ninth score of the year at 3:59 in the third and Jamie McGinn got the final score at 10:04 in the third, just 30 seconds after Colorado's Matt Duchene had made it 2-1 with a wrist shot.

Craig Anderson recorded 43 saves for Colorado (10-2-2), who had their four-game winning streak broken.

Anderson, who has started all 14 games for the Avalanche, stopped the first 31 shots he faced. Signed in the offseason after playing in Florida, he has been key to his team's ascent to the top record in the Western Conference.

"He gave us a chance to win the game when we probably shouldn't have been in it," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said.

"Give San Jose credit. They played us like we were the first-place team in the Western Conference."

San Jose out-shot Colorado 46-25 and avenged a 5-2 opening-night road loss.

"(Anderson) made some great saves in the first couple of periods, but we didn't get frustrated," Clowe said.

"We stuck to the game plan, we put a lot of shots at his feet and made him give rebounds. When we put that many shots on net, we'll win a lot of games."

Pippa DAVIS / Eurosport