San Jose just can't seem to defeat the bubble teams. The Sharks, coming off a blown 3 goal lead in their overtime win in Minnesota, wanted to end their road trip on a positive note in St. Louis, hoping to jump a point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for sole possession of first place in the Western Conference. But the Blues had other plans, and wanted the two points for the win, as they were only 3 points out of the 8th seed coming into the Thursday night match-up. Andy McDonald, who knows the Sharks well from his days in Anaheim, registered a goal and an assist, and Chris Mason made 24 saves, including several key saves on two late power play chances in the third period for the Sharks, and the Blues grabbed the important win at home over San Jose 3-1.
The Sharks got off to a good start early, and looked to take this game away. San Jose took advantage of their second power play off a fortunate boarding call, and Patrick Marleau scored his first goal in six games to put the Sharks up 1-0. But the Sharks made a costly turnover on a pass out of their own zone. David Perron intercepted the pass, and Andy McDonald outskated two Sharks trying to get back on defense. Perron drew the lone San Jose defender towards him, and made a pass right on McDonald's stick, who went to his backhand and deked Brian Boucher before going back to his forehand for an easy tap in goal to tie the game late in the first period.
The second period was a wide open game, with both sides getting odd-man rushes against the other teams right on top of each other. But the only goal scored was on a 4 on 4 situation, after off-setting roughing minors were handed out. Andy McDonald shot the puck hard off Boucher's pads, and the puck trickled through. Before Boucher could fall on it to freeze the puck, Brad Boyes got his stick in and tapped the puck across the line to give St. Louis their first lead 2-1.
San Jose started the third period horribly, killing off a minor penalty that carried over from the end of the second, only to take 3 straight minors, each 20 seconds apart. San Jose almost spent a full 2 minutes on the 5 on 3, and then had to spend another minute killing off a 5 on 4. But the Sharks's penalty killers were strong, and Brian Boucher made several key saves, and San Jose was able to come out of the situation unscratched. St. Louis then took 3 penalties, although none of them on top of each other, and San Jose had 3 chances in the second half of the third period to tie the game. But several one timers by the Sharks either missed the net completely or were stopped by strong saves from Chris Mason. The third power play chance came with a minute and a half left in the third, but the Sharks could not win a faceoff with 30 seconds to go and Barret Jackman launched the puck from his own blue line into San Jose's empty net to secure the win for the Blues 3-1.
Chris Mason took first star honors, as he made one more save than Boucher to secure a win that may potentially help the Blues into their first playoff berth in 3 years. San Jose had 7 power play opportunities in the game, but only converted on their second. One power play only lasted 13 seconds, as Joe Pavelski took a slashing penalty to end the power play chance. Dan Boyle, who got an assist on Marleau's power play goal, led all skaters with over 30 minutes of ice time. The Detroit Red Wings lost in overtime, so the extra point gave them the 1 point lead over San Jose in the Western Conference, although San Jose still has 2 games over the Red Wings. The Boston Bruins won Thursday night as well, tying them with Detroit for the best record in the league. San Jose welcomed back Marcel Goc, who missed a month with a lower body injury. San Jose's next game will be at home Saturday night another team hungry for a playoff spot: the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks hope to get Evgeni Nabokov back, who has missed the last seven games with a lower body injury. During the 7 game stretch, the Sharks went 2-4-1.
Note: apologies for the lack of linking in the game summary. Blogger is being weird and won't show the links.
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