Sharks Already Circling

Teemu Selanne ended his playoff slump by scoring twice, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 27 shots as the San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 6-3, Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Selanne, who led the Sharks with 29 goals during the regular season, had not scored in the playoffs.

San Jose took an early lead, withstood a rally from the defending Stanley Cup champion and put it away with two goals in 2:46 of the third period.

Colorado, which finished a physical seven-game series against the Kings two nights earlier, was sluggish early on. And defenseman Rob Blake, Colorado’s second-leading scorer during the regular season, did not play because of an undisclosed leg injury. Avalanche officials listed him as day to day.

San Jose’s Mike Ricci took advantage, scoring 6:13 into the game after a feed by Niklas Sundstrom from behind the net slipped through the crease. Patrick Roy couldn’t reach the pass with his stick and Ricci one-timed it past him as Ricci was falling. It was Ricci’s third of the playoffs.

Selanne made it 2-0, beating Roy to the glove side with a hard shot from the right faceoff dot after beating Greg de Vries into the Colorado zone.

Selanne put the Sharks up, 3-0, midway in the second, one-timing a pass from Marco Sturm from behind the net between Roy’s pads.

The Avalanche seemed finished at that point, but rallied around a lucky bounce that ended Nabokov’s scoreless streak in the Pepsi Center at 176 minutes 37 seconds.

Peter Forsberg sent a pass to the point to Adam Foote, who one-timed a shot that was headed high. The puck bounced off Chris Drury between the circles and Nabokov was caught off-guard when the puck changed directions.

The goal with 5:27 left in the second was Colorado’s first against Nabokov at home since March 20, 2001, when de Vries scored with 2:53 left in a 4-1 Colorado victory.

De Vries made it a one-goal game 3:24 later with a wrist shot after a faceoff in San Jose’s zone. Patrick Marleau made it 4-2 with a shot from just inside Colorado’s blue line with 7:26 left, banging it in off the right post past Roy. Scott Thornton put the Sharks up by three with 4:40 left, and Bryan Marchment scored an empty-netter with five seconds remaining.