Avalanche 4, Sharks 3 (SO)
DENVER -- Goaltender Calvin Pickard had 30 saves through overtime and stopped both shots he faced in the shootout, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Centers Nathan MacKinnnon and Matt Duchene scored shootout goals for Colorado, which picked up two valuable points in their bid for one of the two wild cards in the Western Conference.
Left winger Gabriel Landeskog, right winger Jarome Iginla and center Shawn Matthias had goals for the Avalanche, who moved within one point of Nashville for the first wild card and four points ahead of Minnesota.
Right winger Joel Ward, defenseman Brent Burns and center Nick Spaling scored for the Sharks (32-21-6). Goaltender Martin Jones had 38 saves.
MacKinnon scored on a backhand to start the shootout and Duchene ended it with a snap shot.
The Avalanche (32-27-4) trailed 2-1 after Burns' centering pass to the front of the net went off the skate of Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson 1:50 into the third. It was Burn's 20th of the season.
Iginla's slap-shot power-play goal at 5:35 tied it. It was his 18th of the season and 607th of his career, one behind Dino Ciccarelli for 17th all-time.
Colorado went ahead when Landeskog tapped in defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk's rebound at 11:45. It was his 15th of the season.
With Jones off for an extra skater, Ward scored with 1:31 left to tie it at 3.
Spaling and defenseman Roman Polak came to San Jose from Toronto a day after their Maple Leafs teammate, Matthias, was dealt to Colorado. The trio, which had a combined eight goals for Toronto this season, got two in the first 13:02 of Wednesday's game.
Spaling's first shot in a San Jose uniform gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead just 2:10 into the game. Not to be outdone, Matthias tied it with a backhander 11 minutes later for his seventh of the season.
NOTES: Avalanche LW Shawn Matthias was in the lineup after finally joining the team. Matthias, who was acquired from Toronto on Sunday for minor league center Colin Smith, arrived in Denver at 1 a.m. Wednesday. ... Matthias had a reunion of sorts Wednesday. San Jose D Roman Polak and C thatNick Spaling, who were teammates with Matthias in Toronto, were traded to the Sharks on Monday for Raffi Torres and two draft picks. The pair made their debut with San Jose on Wednesday. ... Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon missed Tuesday's practice due to illness but was able to play Wednesday. ... Sharks C Tommy Wingels missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.