Sharks beat Avalanche in OT, lose defenseman to injury

SAN JOSE Philipp Kurashev scored at the mark of overtime to lift the San Jose Sharks to a - win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at SAP Center Kurashev took pass from Alexander Wennberg went in and beat Avalanche goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with a shot to the glove side as the Sharks improved to - - their last six games after a - - start They now play the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday in the second of back-to-back games on home ice Goalie Yaroslav Askarov had a bounce-back challenge against the Avalanche with saves after he allowed four goals on shots in a - loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday After Avalanche forward Martin Necas scored seconds into the competition Askarov finished the first period with saves and had saves after minutes The Sharks took a - lead on Kursahev s goal into the second period as he took a pass from Ty Delladrea and beat goalie Mackenzie Blackwood for his fourth goal of the season The Avalanche got that goal back just over five minutes later in somewhat disputed fashion Nathan MacKinnon got behind the Sharks defense and was in alone on Askarov He went forehand to backhand to try and beat Askarov right before Sharks winger Jeff Skinner lost an edge and crashed into the net MacKinnon put the puck across the goal line after the net had been knocked off The play was reviewed by the NHL which in confirming a goal cited Rule which says in part that the attacking competitor must have an imminent scoring opportunity prior to the goal post being displaced and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts Macklin Celebrini extended his career-best point streak to seven games with a goal at the mark of the first period that tied the meeting - Shakir Mukhamadullin sent a pass up through the neutral zone up to Tyler Toffoli who rapidly sent a centering pass to a trailing Celebrini Instead of dusting it off Celebrini fired it right away beating Blackwood an ex-Shark high to the blocker side Celebrini had two shot attempts in the first period including one dazzling play in the Colorado end in which he did a complete spin before putting a shot on net Timothy Liljegren was injured midway through the first period as a deflected puck into the Sharks bench caught the defenseman in the face Liljegren who was in obvious distress was promptly treated by the Sharks training staff and helped to the unit s dressing room The Sharks publicized before the start of the second period that Liljegren who had emerged as a top-pair defenseman averaging in ice time per battle would not return Saturday s challenge featured specific of the NHL s greater part dynamic offensive players with MacKinnon Martin Necas and defenseman Cale Makar from Colorado entered Saturday as the NHL s second-highest scoring club at goals per championship and was coming off an impressive - road win over the Vegas Golden Knights