Avalanche shake off blown lead, reach Olympic break with 4-2 win against Sharks

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Feb 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DENVER — This Colorado Avalanche team with a multi-goal lead remains the safest bet in sports, but this one didn’t come easy.

The Avs coughed up a two-goal advantage early in the third period, but still defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-2, Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Colorado reaches the NHL’s break for the 2026 Winter Olympics atop the league standings with 83 points. The 37-9-9 record includes a 32-0-0 mark when leading a game by two or more goals at any point.

Josh Manson’s blast from the top of the offensive zone gave the Avs the lead with 7:16 remaining. Valeri Nichushkin set him up with his third assist of the night.

Nathan MacKinnon collected his second assist, which were career Nos. 700 and 701. MacKinnon wasn’t credited with a third assist, but his battle with Macklin Celebrini in the neutral zone helped create an empty-net goal for Brock Nelson with 1:17 remaining.

San Jose struck twice in the opening four minutes to erase a two-goal deficit.

Alexander Wennberg carried the puck into the Colorado zone on the right wing and all the way below the goal line. He turned and set up defenseman Timothy Liljegren trailing the play for a one-timer from the right point. The puck went off Parker Kelly’s stick and deflected past Mackenzie Blackwood just 43 seconds into the third.

Philipp Kurashev evened the score at 3:34. Samuel Girard turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, which led to an odd-man rush for San Jose. Kurashev kept it himself and fooled Blackwood with his shot.

Lehkonen opened the scoring 65 seconds into the second period. It was a wild scramble in the Sharks crease, and Lehkonen was credited with the goal. Yaroslav Askarov had lunged forward trying to make a save, and by the time the puck crossed the goal line two San Jose players were laying in the blue paint and all three Colorado top-line forwards were digging for it.

The Finnish forward made it a 2-0 lead at 15:47 of the second. Nichushkin tried to get the puck to MacKinnon during an odd-man rush. His first attempt didn’t get there, and the second was too late for MacKinnon to shoot. He collected it, curled around to the right of the goalie and found Lehkonen in the right circle for a one-timer.

It was Lehkonen’s second of the night and 19th goal of the season. His career high is 27, set last season in 69 games. Lehkonen is now on pace for 28 after this effort.

MacKinnon two points give him 93 on the season. He began the day four back of Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead.

The Avalanche controlled play in the first period, but Askarov made a couple of huge saves, including one on a one-timer from MacKinnon. Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate that he wanted his team to improve the effort on the forecheck and get off to a better start, particularly after yielding a goal in the first shift Monday night en route to a 2-0 loss.

Message received — the Avs were all over the Sharks from the first whistle, racking up four shots on goal and nine attempts before the game was three minutes old.