Game Recap: Colorado Avalanche defeats the San Jose Sharks, winning 4-1 for the second straight season

Ross Colton scored two goals, Justus Annunen made 25 saves in his first start of the season and the Colorado Avalanche held the San Jose Sharks winless 4-1 on Sunday night at SAP Center.

Colton has now scored five goals in his last three games, getting off to a hot start. Here's how it all went down.

First period

The Sharks got off to a solid start, but the Avs held strong thanks to a solid defensive performance. However, San Jose's lack of awareness cost them a loss as too many men on the ice called for a penalty. Nathan MacKinnon fed Colton from the left wing and he hit a great one-timer to give Colorado a 1-0 lead on the power play.

Colton made the score 2-0 at 16:37 with a wrist shot over the blocker of Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek, whose name was misspelled on his jersey during the game. Surely someone will be insulted after the message spreads on social media during the game.

William Eklund scored his first goal of the 24/25 season on the power play with 1:35 left, cutting the Avalanche lead to 2-1. But that was all for the Sharks offense. The rest of the game was one-sided for Colorado.

Second period

Jan Rutta was a penalty machine at the start of the season and committed another violation at the start of the second period. To be fair, the entire Sharks team was pretty undisciplined, with Mikael Granlund also getting booed. This is the third game in a row that San Jose has faced a 5-on-3 power play.

Well, if you can't score, get creative. Tyler Toffoli converted two penalties to give the Sharks some much-needed offense. He drew an interference call against Miles Wood and a tripping call against Josh Manson. Unfortunately for San Jose fans, their power plays failed against the Avs PK unit, leaving the team up by one goal with a game to play.

Third period

You can't beat the Sharks because of a lack of effort. They outscored the Avalanche 26-21 in that game, which is a bit shocking for a winless team, but at the same time not surprising. Colorado is still missing many of its top six forwards, but they still couldn't beat them on Sunday. With a commendable performance from Annunen, who some believe should be the starting goaltender, the Avs are now on a two-game winning streak.

Cale Makar, who scored an empty-net goal at 18:23 to make the final score 4-1, extended his point streak to six games. He also got two assists that evening. MacKinnon finished the night with two assists and extended his point streak to six games.

Takeaways

They played the Sharks, but Annunen looked pretty solid in his first start of the year. Alexandar Georgiev – the NHL wins leader last year – struggled badly early in the season. Kappo Kahkonen, who was on waivers from Winnipeg, has been cleared to enter the country and could begin the road trip. This could mean that Annunen could return to the Eagles even after this great performance.

The Sharks hadn't won a game until November last year, and it appears they're on a similar path this season. Colorado fans endured the 48-point 2016-17 season and feel lonely. But the Sharks aren't the only winless team. The Nashville Predators are the other team that has yet to win.

Soon

The Avalanche continue their road trip and take on the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. Puck Drop will be available for everyone to watch on ESPN on NHL Frozen Frenzy Day at 6:30 p.m. MT.