San Jose coach Peter DeBoer talks about Logan Couture as playing at another level at this time of the year. Couture proved his coach right once again.

Couture scored his NHL-leading 16th go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and the Sharks improved their chances for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.

”It was a big power play Jordan Matthews Jersey ,” Couture said. ”I think we moved the puck around OK on the first one we had. The second one, just a great play by (Kevin) Labanc to find me. (Goalie Jonathan) Bernier was out of the net. Actually, the puck hopped on my stick. I wasn’t trying to shoot it along the ice. I got a little lucky.”

Justin Braun, Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks, who snapped a four-game losing streak and kept their one-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for second-place in the Pacific Division.

”That’s not an easy game for us under the circumstances and some of the guys out,” DeBoer said. ”I thought we dug deep and found a way to win an important game at an important time of year.”

Mikko Rantanen and Blake Comeau scored for the Avalanche, who missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the St. Louis Blues for a playoff spot.

Martin Jones stopped 23 shots for the Sharks. Bernier saved 32 for the Avalanche.

Less than three minutes into the first period, Braun scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off the arm or stick of a Colorado defender, giving Bernier no chance to adjust.

”That was huge. We needed that just to kind of put those other teams in the rear view a little bit,” Braun said. ”If we hold onto second here on Saturday and go from there, get home ice in the first round. It would be huge.”

The Avalanche tied the score with a power-play goal at 15:17. Jones blocked the first two shots but could not control them. The second bounced free toward the side, and Rantanen was able to get it by a diving Jones.

Tyson Barrie earned an assist on the play Derek Watt Jersey , giving him a career-best 43. His 56 points match Rob Blake for most by an Avalanche defenseman in the past 16 years.

Colorado has scored on the power play in each of its last four games and is 6 of 11 during that span. It also has allowed a power-play goal in each of the past five games.

Couture scored on a power play 77 seconds after the Avalanche tied the game. Labanc recorded the first assist with a nice crossing pass.

The Blues will enter Saturday’s game in Denver either up a point or down a point, meaning the final game of the regular season will determine which team goes to the playoffs and which team goes home.

”We’ll have to take advantage of home ice. This is Game 7 for us,” said Mark Barberio, who returned to action after a long absence. ”These are the moments we play for: a chance to make the playoffs.”

Donskoi scored midway through the final period to make it 3-1. Dylan DeMelo took a shot that Bernier stopped, but Donsoi took it away and put it in the net before Bernier could cover.

Two minutes later, Comeau redirected a shot by David Warsofsky to make it 3-2.

Hertl scored an empty-net goal in the final two seconds.

”It comes down to one game. It’s going to be a fun one,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. ”We’ll have to earn every inch of the ice.”

NOTES: Colorado C Carl Soderberg played in his 399th NHL game. … Couture has points in three of his last four games. … Sharks F Evander Kane missed his second straight game as a result of an upper-body injury sustained last Saturday in Las Vegas.

UP NEXT:

Avalanche: Host St. Louis on Saturday in the regular-season finale.

Sharks: Host Minnesota on Saturday in the regular-season finale.

—

— Two hours of practice in the heat and humidity weren’t enough for Pete Robertson.

As dripping teammates slowly ambled to the locker room and showers Sunday, Robertson lined up on one sideline and sprinted across the field to the other sideline. Then and back, over and over again, for extra conditioning.

As the linebacker tries to make it all the way back from a debilitating back injury that threatened to take football away for good, he’s leaving nothing to chance as he tries to make the Washington Redskins.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said.

A very effective pass rusher at Texas Tech John Randle Jersey , Robertson figured to be drafted before he herniated a disk in his back while working out before the draft. The injury led to a pinched nerve, and after Robertson insisted on running at his Pro Day workout for scouts, he never heard his name called during the NFL draft.

He signed a free agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks, but didn’t stick, and had been working the graveyard shift loading trucks at UPS for three months when his agent called. The Redskins were interested.

Before hanging up, Robertson told him, “‘They aren’t ever going to let me go’ and I’ve been here ever since.”

And more and more, he seems likely to stick around for a while.

“Petey has been unbelievable,” fifth-year coach Jay Gruden said before a recent practice. “Yeah, he’s been great. Very, very athletic, and you’re talking about a guy that can possibly help on special teams Al Davis Jersey , as your fourth or fifth linebacker, and he’s one because he can run.”

When the Redskins signed Robertson last December, they initially used him at running back on the scout team because of a need there. He got in four games and made two tackles late in the season. A defensive end in college, the team has since tried him at inside linebacker, Gruden said, but “that wasn’t quite his cup of tea.”

“We moved him back down as an outside linebacker/defensive end in nickel. He’s done very, very well.”

And made an impression on teammates with his willingness to work.

“You know, when we had a lot of guys down and out, he got a lot of reps and you could see the burst that he has and the speed,” offensive tackle Morgan Moses said. “He brings another aspect to the game and he works hard, man.

“There’s not one thing you tell him to do that he’s not going to do it. You tell him to go get some water 50 yards down the field, he’s going to run and get water 50 yards down the field. He just has that mentality.”

It’s an appreciation of a second chance Robertson wasn’t sure he’d get.

The thought that football might be in his past “went through my mind every night Keith Tandy Jersey , every morning,” he said. “Before I went to bed, when I woke up. … I knew it wasn’t the end of the road for me. I knew it wasn’t. I never gave up on the dream, but you always have that thought in the back of your mind: ‘Is this it?'”

In the offseason, Robertson added back the 30 pounds he’d lost while away from the game during day-long weekday workouts with his cousin, Redskins star left tackle Trent Williams. Williams was rehabbing after a right knee injury, and Robertson knew he had to make a big impression once the Redskins opened training camp.

So far, he’s doing just that, and enjoying it every step of the way.

“I wouldn’t trade it for nothing,” he said.
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