Blackwood wins over the former team, while Avalanche defeats the Sharks

Joel Kiviranta scored two goals in the third period, Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves against his former team and the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Thursday night.

The Avalanche have won five of seven games while the Sharks have lost six of seven games.

After the Avalanche converted a penalty, Kiviranta scored on a counterattack at 13:06 of the third period to give Colorado a 3-2 lead. Almost three minutes later he scored the decisive goal again.

The game featured goalies who were traded for each other last week. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 shots for the Sharks.

Valeri Nichushkin scored the first goal for Colorado in the first period. In the second game, Carl Grundstrom scored his first goal with San Jose and William Eklund gave the Sharks the lead.

Luke Kunin assisted on both Sharks goals. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each had two assists for the Avalanche.

Trailing 2-1 early in the third period, Colorado tied the game with a power play goal from Mikko Rantanen midway through the period.

Takeaways

Avalanche: Blackwood looked strong against his former club and the Avalanche got their new No. 1 goaltender with a third-period comeback.

Sharks: San Jose has given up multiple third-period goals in each of its last five games. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky said before the game that his team was frustrated by its inability to shut down its opponents.

Key moment

Colorado fended off consecutive San Jose power plays midway through the third period and then took advantage of a Sharks loss of possession in the offensive zone. Logan O’Connor found a charging Kiviranta on the left wing and he beat Georgiev on the glove side for the go-ahead score.

Key statistics

The Avalanche have won 11 straight games against the Sharks, their longest winning streak against an opponent.

Next

The Avalanche play in Anaheim on Friday while the Sharks visit Edmonton on Saturday.