The Avalanche then scored three goals in a 1:16 span in the second period.
“We got waxed. They’re a great hockey team,” Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini said. “They capitalized on chances early and went up a couple goals.”
Malinski made it 3-0 with a long-distance wrist shot that went in over Askarov’s glove at 3:44.
Manson pushed the lead to 4-0 with a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the left face-off circle that went blocker side at 4:51.
“That’s the best team in the League, and that’s where we want to be. So just kind of shows how much work we’ve got to do and put into to get to that level,” Sharks defenseman Sam Dickinson said. “I think that’s kind of just what you take from this game.”
Kiviranta extended it to 5-0 at just nine seconds later at 5:00 when he finished a cross-crease pass from Ivan Ivan over the right pad at the left post. It was Kiviranta’s first goal of the season in his return to the lineup after missing the past 17 games with a lower-body injury.
“I thought he was great,” Bednar said. “When he comes back, he’s ready to go, and he beat his injury timeline, which says a lot. And then to be able to come back and be ready like that and chip in for us again. Penalty kill, scores a goal, was part of that [fourth] line, which I thought was really good again tonight. So yeah, kudos to him for the work he put in.”
Lehkonen tapped in his own rebound after it bounced off the right pad of Nedeljkovic for the 6-0 final at 16:15 of the third period.
NOTES: MacKinnon passed Peter Stastny for the second-most assists (669) in Avalanche/Nordiques history. … The Avalanche have the third-longest start to a season with one regulation loss (23 games), behind the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks, who went 25 games (21-1-3), and the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers, who went 37 games (26-1-10). … Colorado has won 12 straight home games against the Sharks dating to the 2019-20, which matches the Hurricanes (12 games vs. Buffalo and 12 games vs. Montreal) and Stars (12 games vs. Detroit) for the longest active streak against a single opponent. … The Avalanche’s 10-game win streak tied their second-longest run in franchise history (also 2021-22 and 2017-18). The record of 12 games was set in 1998-99.
