Nathan MacKinnon Scores, Avalanche Beat Sharks 3-0 in Game 4 to Tie Series

Nathan MacKinnon scored his sixth postseason goal and Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves as the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 4 of their NHL Western Conference second-round playoff series on Thursday.

Colin Wilson scored the second goal for the Avs, who are tied 2-2 in the best-of-seven contest. Erik Johnson added an empty-netter.

San Jose goaltender Martin Jones saved 25 shots.

MacKinnon has posted six goals and seven assists in nine postseason games. He's accrued at least one point in each of his past eight contests and is knocking on the door of Hall of Famer Joe Sakic's franchise point-streak record: 

The 23-year-old center opened the scoring at 10:34 of the second period after he netted a goal on the doorstep:

MacKinnon almost put home what would have been one of the postseason's best goals after a nifty toe drag but airlifted the puck over the net:

Still, the All-Star proved why he's one of the best players remaining in the NHL postseason—if not the best. 

At this point, playoff goals are almost expected:

Pete Blackburn of CBSSports.com made his allegiance known:

MacKinnon wasn't the only star on the night, as Grubauer dominated en route to his first career playoff shootout.

This pad stop proved to be his most clutch save:

Grubauer earned the game's first star for his efforts. 

His counterpart did all he could to keep the Sharks in the game, and Chelena Goldman of NBCS Bay Area gave Jones his due:

However, Jones couldn't do much after a defensive zone giveaway led to Wilson's power-play goal at 3:11 of the third period:

Kevin Kurz of The Athletic noted the nice setup leading to the score:

But the defensive breakdown led to the goal, a point not lost on Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group and AJ Haefele of BSN Denver:

Sharks defenseman Brett Burns was the culprit, although he's a major reason San Jose is in the second round; his 83 regular-season points on 16 goals and 67 assists led all defensemen this year.

San Jose couldn't build off the momentum from Logan Couture's Game 3 hat trick, which led to a 4-2 win. But San Jose will get another chance to grab it back when it hosts Colorado for Game 5 on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. NBCSN will televise the contest.