The Sharks treated fans to the "two sides of
hockey" on Thursday night at SAP Center. San Jose played a flawless opening 20
minutes against the visiting St Louis Blues, scoring twice in the frame. They
would then allow 4 goals in a 2nd period that was a complete reversal in play,
accountability, effort, you name it. San Jose would eventually fall 6-3 to the
Blues, to help St Louis snap a 6-game losing streak.
The Blues entered
play mired in a tailspin, and with the reality that the franchise has thrown in
the towel on the season with several key players departing via trade. They
played like a broken team in the opening period.
Alexander Barabanov
staked the Sharks to a 1-0 lead 3:50 into the game, when he beat out Blues
defenseman Justin Faulk to a loose puck skipping down the right wing. Barabanov
then flipped the puck to his left and crossed over past Faulk towards the slot,
where he got off a shot that beat former Sharks goaltender Thomas Greiss. The
goal was Barabanov's 12th of the season.
Logan Couture made it a 2-0
Sharks lead less than 3 minutes later. The Sharks captain unloaded on an Erik
Karlsson drop pass from the left dot. The shot beat Greiss low to the stick
side for his 21st goal of the season.
The 2nd period would be a
completely different experience for the Sharks. The Blues showed flashes of
their Stanley Cup pedigree by blitzing the Sharks.
Colton Parayko
scored the 1st of 4 unanswered Blues goals in the period 2:35 into the frame.
Nikita Alexandrov setup the goal by evading a Sharks defender along the left
wing boards before sending a bullet to the right post where Parayko was skating
for a tap in past James Reimer.
An tripping penalty to Barabanov setup
the 1st of 2 Blues power plays in the period. Jordan Kyrou put his 26th goal of
the season past Reimer with a shot from the slot after Pavel Buchnevich sent a
pass from the end boards. Kyrou was positioned between all 4 Shark defenders
who could not reach the winger.
Logan Brown gave St Louis the lead at
9:30 after the Blues worked the puck from behind the Sharks net to the slot, to
Brown on the right side. The Blues did all that while Josh Leivo was limping
through the slot on his way to the St Louis bench.
Radim Simek was sent off at 18:09 for tripping, and
the Blues would capitalize with their 2nd power play goal of the period. This
time Brayden Schenn got in on the goal-fest with a tap in similar to Parayko's.
Kyrou skated the puck off the left wing boards and hit Schenn with a pass
through the slot as Mario Ferraro was late to cover the Blues forward.
When Kevin Labanc was set off for tripping 5:31 into the 3rd period and the
Blues power play effectiveness, things looked bleak for San Jose. Steven
Lorentz turned that upside down when he carried a Matt Benning feed up the
right wing, then cut across the slot and used Benning as a screen while
shooting the puck past Greiss to make it a 1-goal game.
Tyler Pitlick
would roof a shot that appeared to surprise Reimer to push the Blues lead back
to 2-goals with 5:08 to play.
Kasperi Kapanen added an empty-net goal
late to cap the game's scoring.
Game Notes: * Sharks
defenseman Erik Karlsson played in his 900th career NHL game.
* Newly
acquired left winger Vladislav Nemestnikov was assigned jersey #90, but it's
unclear if he'll ever wear it in a game. The Sharks traded Mikey Eyssimont on
Tuesday to land the forward from the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the deal is an
odd move by the Sharks. The Russian forward could be bait for a forthcoming
move by Sharks GM Mike Grier.
* Kevin Labanc was back in the lineup
after missing Tuesday's game for the birth of his son Eric.
* Pavel
Buchnevich recorded 4 assists for the Blues, 3 coming in the fateful 2nd
period.
* The short-handed goal for Steven Lorentz was the 1st of his
career.
