Avs need greater effort against Sharks in Game 2

The final score of the series opener -- a 5-2 loss Friday to the San Jose Sharks -- might make it seem like the Colorado Avalanche were outclassed.

Another way to look at that setback as Colorado prepares for Sunday's Game 2 in San Jose is that the Avalanche wasted an opportunity. They twice blew leads before being blown out of the water.

The Avs are well aware of how close they were to drawing first blood in the second-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

"The first 30 minutes of this hockey game we played really well and we could absolutely have had a couple more (goals)," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "(Sharks goalie Martin) Jones comes up big on (Carl Soderberg with two saves) in the first period, so I feel good about where we're at."

"We're playing real well at the start of the second period and we're in some power plays and at 2-1, we don't capitalize on that four-minute power play and then we put one in their pads and it's 2-2," added Colorado coach Jared Bednar. "So 30 minutes into the game, we're doing a lot of good things and we're 2-2 off of just two quick plays. You hate to see them happen, but mistakes are going to be made."

That said, the Sharks truly outclassed the Avalanche over the final half of Friday's opener, taking their game to a level the visitors couldn't match.

"We're in the second round. Guys should be ready to go, and they were," Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. "We did a lot of good things after the first half of the first period and got rewarded for it."

Defenseman Brent Burns led the way with a four-point effort, but the Sharks -- who are likely to remain without captain Joe Pavelski in the second game -- benefited from a bevy of players elevating their game.

"We just outworked them I think," said Sharks forward Kevin Labanc, who broke open the clash with a fantastic goal. "We were winning our battles in the O-zone and in the D-zone, so we just got to stick with it and keep that momentum going for us in the second game."

And it's up to the Avalanche, who have just two wins in their last 23 visits to San Jose in both regular season and playoffs, to stop that momentum.

"We did a lot of good things, and there will be some things we look at, but we've got to find a way to ramp up that physical edge that we had and that skating edge we had (in the first-round win over the Calgary Flames)," Bednar said. "After a week off, we had some guys that just weren't as good as they were last week."

--Field Level Media