The San Jose Sharks managed to break their four-game losing streak by defeating the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 at home.
Center Joe Thornton also snapped his season-high six straight games without a goal streak. He netted the Shark’s first two goals of night and contributed with an assist.
Forward Nils Ekman tied a franchise record with four assists on the night. The last time a Shark had four assists was on Mar. 10, 2002 by Owen Nolan against the Vancouver Canucks.
“I have given Ekman a chance to play with a couple of pretty good guys and he shows he can play with them,” said head coach Ron Wilson. “Tonight was his best game.”
Thornton managed to find the back of the net again with a wrist shot that beat Colorado’s goalie David Aebischer three minutes into the second period.
Avalanche forward Alex Tanguay tied the game up, beating Vesa Toskala, after getting fed a pass from Ian Laperriere at 14:44 in the second period.
After Tanguay tying goal, the Sharks answered with three unanswered goals. Scott Thornton scored at 14:16 with a backhand shot, going top-shelf on Aebischer. Avs’ defensemen John-Michael Liles failed to clear the puck out the zone. Thornton stopped it, charged the net, and netted in the third goal for the Sharks.
Ekman picked up his third assist on a power play by feeding Patrick Marleau with a behind the net pass. Marleau snuck up from the blue-line and shot it past Aebischer 2:16 into the final period.
Jonathan Cheechoo scored his tenth goal in nine games, again being fed a pass from Ekman.
“Our biggest concern tonight was the importance of the game,” said Avalanche head coach Joe Quenneville. “Bottom line was they were the harder working team.”
The Sharks return home on Jan. 5 to face off the Columbus Blue Jackets.
NOTES
– Joe Sakic scored the first Avs goal four minutes into the first period.
– The Sharks had 43 shots. The Avalanche had 22 shots.
