Marleau lights lamp 4 times in win.
Marleau’s first four-goal game gives him 497 for his career
DENVER — Patrick Marleau is the owner of just about every career record for goal scoring in Sharks franchise history. But he’s never had a game like Monday’s against the Colorado Avalanche.
With his team needing a spark, Marleau came through with one of the most memorable games of his 19-year NHL career, scoring four third-period goals in the Sharks’ 5-2 win over the Avalanche.
Marleau scored at 2:53, 5:57 and the 10:35 marks of the third period, then finished his electrifying night with a breakaway goal with 3:37 to go as the Sharks picked up their seasonhigh fifth straight win. The win moves the Sharks sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division.
“Tonight was a lot of fun,” said Marleau, who is now at 497 goals for his NHL career.
Marleau’s third goal came as he converted a 2 on 1 with Joe
Pavelski for what was — at that point — his fifth career hat trick as the Sharks took a 4-1 lead.
Less than six minutes after arena crew members cleaned up a few dozen hats off the ice thrown by the sizable contingent of Sharks fans at Pepsi Center, Marleau made his own personal history.
Marleau took a stretch pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic, streaked in alone on Spencer Martin and beat the Avalanche rookie goalie with forehand-to-backhand move.
“He gets that third one and the crowd, the Sharks fans, you could hear them out there and the hats came on,” Pavelski said. “It was exciting to see those come on the ice. (Marleau’s) played really hard this year and he’s had a lot of really good looks.”
The Sharks have two more games before the start of the All-Star break. They play Tuesday in Winnipeg against the Jets and Thursday at home against Edmonton.
“For him to kind of pick us up and get some big goals there for us, it was important for the start of this trip,” Pavelski said.
After a sluggish opening periods in their fifth game in eight days, the Sharks had to dig deep to find one more reservoir of energy.
The Sharks had to look no further than the guy who has played more games in the NHL than anyone else on the roster.
“Great player, and still a lot of gas left in the tank,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said of Marleau. “A lot of juice left in those legs. Considering our schedule and his age to play a game like that, that’s an exceptional feat.
“It’s an exceptional feat when you’re 22. Never mind when you’re 37 in the middle of seven games in 11 nights. Great player. It was great to be a part of it.”
Brent Burns and Vlasic each had assists on two of Marleau’s goals. Burns also scored in the first period as the Sharks won another game in what’s been their busiest stretch of the season so far.
Marleau, who now has 16 goals on the season, became just the third Sharks player to score four goals in a game. Owen Nolan scored four against Anaheim on Dec. 19, 1995 and Tomas Hertl had four goals against the New York Rangers on Oct. 8, 2013.
Marleau is also the first player in the league to score four goals in the third period since Mario Lemieux did it on Jan. 26, 1997 against Montreal.
Marleau holds career team records for goals, power play goals (156) and game-winning goals (96), among a handful of others.
“He’s dominant player,” Burns said of Marleau. “He’s been so good for so long. It’s great to see a period like that of just dominance. It was pretty cool to be a part of and great to watch.”
Joonas Donskoi was n injured midway through the first period after he absorbed a hit from Andreas Martinsen. He stayed near the Sharks bench for a few seconds before he left the game for good. DeBoer did not have an update on Donskoi after the game.
Burns gave the Sharks n the lead with 1:00 left in the first period with his 20th goal of the season.
David Schlemko sent a puck around the end boards behind the Avalanche to Burns, whose quick shot got past Martin for his fifth goal in the last eight games and 15th even strength goal of the season. It’s the third time Burns has reached 20 goals in a season, as he also did it in 2013-14 (22) and last season (22).
The Avalanche got that goal back in the second period on the power play.
Mikhail Grigorenko faked a pass to the point and slid a cross-ice pass to Iginla, whose one-timer came just inside the near post for his sixth goal of the season with 9:58 to go in the second.
Martin Jones made 26 n saves as he improved his season record to 25-14-2.