Patrick Marleau scores four in Sharks win
“It was a good period to have,” said Marleau, who had gone seven games without a goal and has 16 this season and 497 in his NHL career.
Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic set up Marleau for his first goal, which came on a tip at 2:53 to break a 1-1 tie, and his fourth on a breakaway at 16:23 for a 5-2 lead.
Marleau said he started thinking about a hat trick after he scored his second goal at 5:57 on a wraparound, jamming the puck between the left post and goalie Spencer Martin‘s skate to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead.
“[Sharks forward Logan Couture] said something to me on the bench, ‘Let’s go get that third one,'” Marleau said. “That’s when you’re thinking about it and guys are rooting for you, so it makes it fun.”
Marleau completed his hat trick at 10:35 shortly after serving a hooking penalty, converting Joe Pavelski‘s pass on a 2-on-1 rush to make it 4-1.
“Great player,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “Still a lot of gas left in the tank, a lot of juice left in those legs. Considering our schedule and his age (37), to play a game like that, that’s an exceptional feat. It’s an exceptional feat when you’re 22, never mind 37 in the middle of seven games in 11 nights. He’s a great player. It was great to be part of it.”
Colorado (13-30-2), which lost its sixth consecutive game (0-5-1), was short one forward after center Matt Duchene was scratched because of illness shortly before the opening faceoff.
“It’s not an excuse,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We got lots of guys who are dying for ice time and who want to play more and more. That wasn’t the reason we made poor decisions in the third period.”
Marleau put a backhand over Martin’s glove at 16:23 after the Avalanche cut it to 4-2 at 11:57 on a goal by