San Jose coach Peter DeBoer talks about Logan Couture as playing at another level at this time of the year. Couture proved his coach
right once again.
Couture scored his NHL-leading 16th go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and the Sharks improved their chances for home-ice advantage in the first
round of the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday
night.
”It was a big power play
Derek Rivers Jersey ,” Couture said. ”I think we moved the puck around OK on the first one we had. The second one, just a great play by (Kevin) Labanc to find
me. (Goalie Jonathan) Bernier was out of the net. Actually, the puck hopped on
my stick. I wasn’t trying to shoot it along the ice. I got a little lucky.”
Justin Braun, Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks, who snapped a four-game losing streak and kept their one-point lead over the Anaheim
Ducks for second-place in the Pacific Division.
”That’s not an easy game for us under the circumstances and some of the guys out,” DeBoer said. ”I thought we dug deep and found a way to win an important
game at an important time of year.”
Mikko Rantanen and Blake Comeau scored for the Avalanche, who missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the St. Louis Blues for a playoff
spot.
Martin Jones stopped 23 shots for the Sharks. Bernier saved 32 for the Avalanche.
Less than three minutes into the first period, Braun scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off the arm or stick of a Colorado
defender, giving Bernier no chance to adjust.
”That was huge. We needed that just to kind of put those other teams in the rear view a little bit,” Braun said. ”If we hold onto second here on Saturday
and go from there, get home ice in the first round. It would be huge.”
The Avalanche tied the score with a power-play goal at 15:17. Jones blocked the first two shots but could not control them. The second bounced free toward
the side, and Rantanen was able to get it by a diving Jones.
Tyson Barrie earned an assist on the play, giving him a career-best 43. His 56 points match Rob Blake for most by an Avalanche defenseman in the past 16
years.
Colorado has scored on the power play in each of its last four games and is 6 of 11 during that span. It also has allowed a power-play goal in each of the
past five games.
Couture scored on a power play 77 seconds after the Avalanche tied the game. Labanc recorded the first assist with a nice crossing pass.
The Blues will enter Saturday’s game in Denver either up a point or down a point, meaning the final game of the regular season will determine which team
goes to the playoffs and which team goes home.
”We’ll have to take advantage of home ice. This is Game 7 for us,” said Mark Barberio
Kellen Winslow Jersey , who returned to action after a long absence. ”These are the moments we play for: a chance to make the playoffs.”
Donskoi scored midway through the final period to make it 3-1. Dylan DeMelo took a shot that Bernier stopped, but Donsoi took it away and put it in the net
before Bernier could cover.
Two minutes later, Comeau redirected a shot by David Warsofsky to make it 3-2.
Hertl scored an empty-net goal in the final two seconds.
”It comes down to one game. It’s going to be a fun one,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. ”We’ll have to earn every inch of the ice.”
NOTES: Colorado C Carl Soderberg played in his 399th NHL game. … Couture has points in three of his last four games. … Sharks F Evander Kane missed his
second straight game as a result of an upper-body injury sustained last Saturday
in Las Vegas.
UP NEXT:
Avalanche: Host St. Louis on Saturday in the regular-season finale.
Sharks: Host Minnesota on Saturday in the regular-season finale.
—
Since Jon Gruden last coached in the NFL a decade ago, the league has undergone a youth movement.
Thanks to a collective bargaining agreement that limits salaries for players in their first four years and a more spread out game that places a greater
premium on speed, teams have relied more than ever on young players.
Gruden still is showing the same kind of preference for experience that he did when he first took over the Raiders back in 1998, signing 11 players this
offseason who are already in their 30s.
”We’ve added a veteran presence,” Gruden said. ”Some people don’t like it, but I like Derrick Johnson, I like Marcus Gilchrist, I like guys that know what
the heck is going on.”
That’s the opposite direction most teams have gone since Gruden last coached in Tampa Bay in 2008. The youth movement hit high gear following the 2011
collective bargaining agreement and the average snap weighted age for NFL
players fell to 26.46 years last season, according to Football Outsiders, the
lowest since the website began tracking that number in 2006.
The average age has been falling gradually each year since 2008, with players about a half-year younger now than they were a decade ago.
But Gruden is bucking that trend, signing players like Johnson
Weston Richburg Jersey , Jordy Nelson, Frostee Rucker and Leon Hall.
”Heck yeah that’s a positive,” tight end Jared Cook said. ”It helps the maturity of this team. When you got young guys, especially nowadays, these young
guys just don’t get what the NFL is about. Even something as simple as veteran
presence and veteran leadership, they don’t understand that. Veteran respect,
they don’t necessarily get that. So, having vets in the locker room and having
vets around you that know the role, know how things go and that hold other
people accountable … is huge. You can’t buy that anywhere, because vets know how
it’s supposed to be done, and they’re going to get it done the right way it’s
supposed to be.”
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