This Colorado Avalanche team with a multi-goal lead remains the safest bet in sports, but this one didn’t come easy.

The Avs coughed up a two-goal advantage early in the third period, but still defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-2, Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Colorado reaches the NHL’s break for the 2026 Winter Olympics atop the league standings with 83 points. The 37-9-9 record includes a 32-0-0 mark when leading a game by two or more goals at any point.

Josh Manson’s blast from the top of the offensive zone gave the Avs the lead with 7:16 remaining. Valeri Nichushkin set him up with his third assist of the night.

“If we’re up by two, it’s because we’re playing well and it’s hard for teams to come back on us,” Manson said. “Our game is just kind of smothering. We we get up and teams get desperate to come back, we can kind of turn it on and make them pay for their mistakes.”

Nathan MacKinnon collected his second assist on Manson’s goal, which were career Nos. 700 and 701. MacKinnon wasn’t credited with a third assist, but his battle with Macklin Celebrini in the neutral zone helped create an empty-net goal for Brock Nelson with 1:17 remaining.

San Jose struck twice in the opening four minutes to erase a two-goal deficit.

Alexander Wennberg carried the puck into the Colorado zone on the right wing and all the way below the goal line. He turned and set up defenseman Timothy Liljegren trailing the play for a one-timer from the right point. The puck went off Parker Kelly’s stick and deflected past Mackenzie Blackwood just 43 seconds into the third.

Philipp Kurashev evened the score at 3:34. Samuel Girard turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, which led to an odd-man rush for San Jose. Kurashev kept it himself and fooled Blackwood with his shot.

The Avs bent early in the third, but did not break.

“I loved our first two periods,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a dip at the start of the third, but it was a lucky play. We were doing the right things. Then we make a couple mistakes and they capitalize on one.

“You’ve got to regroup. You’ve got to find a way to dig in and get back your game as quick as you can. I thought we did that, and ended up winning the hockey game.”

Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring 65 seconds into the second period. It was a wild scramble in the Sharks crease, and Lehkonen was credited with the goal. Yaroslav Askarov had lunged forward trying to make a save, and by the time the puck crossed the goal line two San Jose players were laying in the blue paint and all three Colorado top-line forwards were digging for it.

The Finnish forward made it a 2-0 lead at 15:47 of the second. Nichushkin tried to get the puck to MacKinnon during an odd-man rush. His first attempt didn’t get there, and the second was too late for MacKinnon to shoot. He collected it, curled around to the right of the goalie and found Lehkonen in the right circle for a one-timer.