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SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan refused to dwell on any negatives that came out of a wild finish. Joe Pavelski scored with just under 20 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau tallied in the shootout, lifting the San Jose Sharks to a 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. "Pav has been a real clutch player over the past two weeks for us, hes kind of the go-to guy right now, he seems to be getting it done," McLelland said. "He did it again tonight for us. Were happy for him and for us." Erik Johnson and Jamie McGinn scored goals 12 seconds apart in the final two minutes to put the Avalanche ahead. Asked about Niemi giving up the two quick goals, McLellan responded, "You know what, its Christmas. Lets all go home and enjoy it, and Ill answer those questions when we come back." Johnsons extra-man goal slipped under the left shoulder of Sharks goalie Antti Niemi to knot things, and McGinns goal also came with an extra skater as he beat Niemi to the stick side. "It was a high to tie it, a high to go ahead and then a crashing low when they tied it," Johnson said. "It was a strange game probably from the perspective of both teams. A very strange game at the end." Pavelski tied it after taking a pass from Joe Thornton, who has an 11-game point streak against the Avalanche. Matt Irwin scored a power-play goal late in the second period to put the Sharks ahead 3-2 and set up the wild finish. "We all knew we had about a minute and whatever left to get the tying goal," Irwin said. "The leadership group did a great job. They got out there and they capitalized. Joe made a great play to Joe. Thats what those guys do." Jason Demers and Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks, who have won four of six. "It was a crazy ending," Burns said. "Im sure coaches dont like seeing that too often. I think we get angry a little bit, but as a group I think were pretty confident and it was just a matter of who was going to step up and get that next goal." Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for the Avalanche, who lost for the third time in four games. Niemi made 29 saves to record his 19th victory and improve to 7-1-3 against Colorado. Semyon Varlamov stopped 41 shots to lose for the fourth time in eight games against the Sharks. "Its too bad, but at the same time we showed a lot of character," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "We played well in the third period. We scored two big goals and then they made a great play to tie it." In the first of four meetings between the teams, two fights in the first nine minutes set the stage for a physical game. MacKinnons power-play goal midway through the first period gave the Avalanche the early lead. Ryan OReillys pass set up MacKinnons goal, a shot that beat Niemi to the glove side. Demers scored his second goal in two games, beating Varlamov over the right shoulder and tying the game at 1-1 with six minutes left in the first period. Landeskog scored his first goal in 11 games in the final minute to put Colorado ahead 2-1 after one period. Burns scored after taking a drop pass from Thornton six minutes into the second period to make it 2-2. NOTES: Sharks rookie F Tomas Hertl will undergo knee surgery sometime this week, the injury a result of a knee-on-knee collision with Los Angeles Kings Dustin Brown. "Its going to be longer than a month," Sharks GM Doug Wilson said. Hertl will also miss playing in the Olympics with the Czech Republic. . Avalanche D Jan Hejda played in his 500th career game. . Avalanche D Tyson Barrie had his career-high four-game point streak snapped. . Thornton has 49 points in 40 games against Colorado. 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"The sting from yesterday is not something we hid from or pretend didnt happen," Dineen said.GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Malcolm Brogdon scored 23 points and No. 6 Virginia claimed its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title since 1976 by beating No. 7 Duke 72-63 on Sunday. Tournament MVP Joe Harris added 15 points and hit the backbreaking 3-pointer with just under 2 minutes remaining for the top-seeded Cavaliers (28-6). They shot 45 per cent, pestered the Blue Devils into 38 per cent shooting and used a late 12-3 run to pull away and claim the second ACC tournament title in school history. Jabari Parker scored 23 points on 9-of-24 shooting for the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-8), who were making their 31st appearance in the championship game but were denied their ACC-record 20th title. Anthony Gill added 12 points and was 10 of 17 from the free-throw line for Virginia. Duke as a team was just 7 of 11 from the line. The Cavaliers came to Greensboro off of their first outright regular-season title since 1981, and were trying to do something not even Ralph Sampson could do. It had been a long time -- 38 years -- since Wally Walker led Virginia to its only previous ACC tournament title. Now that trophy will have some company. With its "pack line" defence clicking and holding Duke 13 points below its scoring average, Virginia was in control for most of the day, yet could never get any separation until the final 2 1/2 minutes. Akil Mitchell hit a shot to make it 61-57, then stripped Parker at the other end to set up Harris wide-open 3 in transition that extended the lead to seven and had Dukes Rodney Hood fuming. Harris gave Duke a final chance when he rushed up a shot and Quinn Cook countered with a 3 with 1 1/2 minutes left to pull the Blue Devils back within four. Brogdon then drove through the Duke defence for a momentum-shifting layup that made it 66-60 with just over a minute to play and caused Duke assistant Jeff Capel to tellingly slump back on the bench in exasperation. Cook missed a short jumper before Brogdon hit six of eight free throws in the final minute to help thee Cavaliers pull away.dddddddddddd Hood finished with 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting and Amile Jefferson added 11 for Duke. This was a one-possession game throughout the second half until Mitchells tip-in with 5:10 left pushed Virginias lead to 57-53. Parker missed three shots on Dukes next possession, then picked up his fourth foul with 3:53 left and Gill hit two free throws to put the Cavaliers up by six. Virginia was one of the few opponents which found a way to slow Parker, holding him to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in the regular-season meeting -- a four-point Duke win that came down to the final seconds. With Mitchell keying the defensive effort on him, Parker was just 2 of 10 in the first half. Then he got hot midway through the second half and single-handedly kept Duke in the game, reeling off seven straight points for his team in a 90-second span. He went coast-to-coast and threw down a one-handed dunk on London Perrantes, hit a 3-pointer from the wing to briefly give Duke a one-point lead and added a jumper off a spin move with 8 1/2 minutes remaining. Mitchell finished with 15 rebounds for Virginia, which led 28-25 at the end of a physical, intense first half notable for its low shooting percentages -- and a technical foul on Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Official Jamie Luckie hit Coach K with a T with 2:07 left in the half when Krzyzewski, with his back to the court, tossed his dry-erase marker toward his bench while coming out of a timeout. There were plenty of reasons for Duke to be frustrated, yet the Blue Devils managed to keep themselves in the game despite a rough first half from its two best players: Parker and Hood were a combined 4 of 18 from the field. Parker hit a point-blank shot while falling down with just under 16 minutes left to put Duke up 34-33 -- its first lead since the opening minute. Brogdon snatched the lead right back with a jumper on Virginias next trip down the court, and it stayed tight the rest of the way until the Cavaliers late surge. ' ' '