DENVER - Wojtek Wolski scored two goals and Craig Anderson stopped 38 shots, lifting Colorado to a season-opening 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night after the Avalanche retired Joe Sakic's No. 19.
Darcy Tucker, Cody McLeod and John-Michael Liles also scored, making a winner out of new Avalanche coach Joe Sacco.
Patrick Marleau had two goals for San Jose, which dropped to 0-5-2 in season openers on the road.
Evgeni Nabokov allowed all five goals on 20 shots. He remains one victory shy of becoming the 38th goalie in NHL history to win 250 games.
The Avalanche are starting their 14th season in Denver, and first without their longtime captain Sakic. His sweater was raised to the Pepsi Center rafters in a ceremony before the game. Sakic's number is the third retired since the Avalanche relocated from Quebec in 1995, joining Patrick Roy (33) and Ray Bourque (77).
The Avalanche are coming off a season in which they finished last in the Western Conference for the first time since the team moved to Colorado. They made sweeping changes, brining in a new general manager in Greg Sherman and hiring Sacco, who had been with Lake Erie of the American Hockey League for the last two seasons.
Sacco pledged an uptempo style, and that is how the Avalanche played. Colorado had nine players record assists, including two by Paul Stastny.
To shore up their shaky goalie situation, the Avalanche signed Anderson. The veteran turned in a solid game, thwarting the Sharks on a 5-on-3 power play in the third period. Of his 38 saves, 17 came in the final period.
Marleau scored both goals off assists from Joe Pavelski. Marleau is starting the season strong after netting a career-high 38 goals in 2008-09.
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