At the end of the first period, Colorado and San Jose are deadlocked at one goal apiece. After a disastrous first minute, where San Jose forward Logan Couture was able to thread a rebound past goalie Peter Budaj, the pace kept at a frenetic pace.
Four penalties on the Avalanche, including a double minor for high sticking, gave the Sharks the man advantage for over seven minutes of the first period. The Sharks are normally deadly on the power play, but came up empty due to some brilliant defensive play.
The turning point in the period came at 16:49, when Dan Boyle was called for hooking while the Sharks were on the power play. Colorado used their minute of advantage to take control of the period for the first time. Milan Hejduk circled around the crease, faked a shot, and made a cross ice pass to rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk converted the pass into a top shelf shot from the left faceoff circle and past Sharks goalie Antero Niittymaki for his first career goal.
Due to the last few minutes, the Avalanche were able to close the shot gap, and now only trail San Jose 13-9 in that category, after being down by a substantial margin for the majority of the period.